Famous actor who crowned his career with many awards: Who is Michael Douglas?

His full name is Michael Kirk Douglas, he was born on September 25, 1944, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was born as the first child to his father, actor Kirk Douglas, and his mother, actress Diana Dill. His father's real name was Issur Danielovitch and he was a Jew. His mother had English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, French, Belgian and Dutch ancestry. Douglas has a younger brother, Joel Douglas. He has two half-brothers, Peter Douglas and Eric Douglas, from his stepmother, Anne Buydens.

He attended Allen-Stevenson School in New York City and then Eaglebrook School in Massachusetts, and was educated at The Choate Preparatory School in Wallingford. He earned a bachelor's degree in dramatic art from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1968. He also studied acting with Wynn Handman at The American Place Theater in New York City.

He made his television breakthrough role in the 1969 CBS anthology drama TV series "CBS Playhouse" special, "The Experiment", the only time it was advertised as "M.K. Douglas". That same year, Douglas founded Bigstick Productions, Limited, his first independent film production company. Douglas began his film career in the late 1960s and early 1970s with "Hail, Hero!", "Man at 6 A.M." and "Summertree" began with acting in lesser-known films.  He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising New Actor for his performance in "Hail, Hero!". 

His first major role came in the TV crime drama series "The Streets of San Francisco", in which he co-starred with Karl Malden from 1972 to 1976. In late 1971, Douglas acquired the rights to the novel "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" from his father, Kirk Douglas, and produced the film of the same name with Saul Zaentz. The film's lead actor was Jack Nicholson, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and Douglas won 5 Academy Awards, including the Best Picture Award, for producing the film.

In 1976 Michael and his brother Peter took over their father's film production company, 'The Bryna Company', but Michael left in 1978 to focus solely on producing through his own company.

Douglas played a hospital doctor in the medical mystery thriller "Coma" (1978), based on the novel of the same name, and a troubled marathon runner in the 1979 sports drama "Running" directed by Steven Hilliard Stern. In the same year, he both produced and starred in "The China Syndrome", a disaster thriller-drama movie about a nuclear power plant accident, in which he shared the lead roles with Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon. The film has been called "one of the smartest Hollywood movies of the 1970s".

Douglas' acting career rose to fame when he both produced and starred in the 1984 romantic action-adventure comedy "Romancing the Stone", in which he co-starred with Danny DeVito. It also reintroduced him as a talented lead actor. This success was followed by the movie "The Jewel of the Nile", which he produced and starred in.

In 1986, Bigstick Productions partnered with Mercury Entertainment, a company backed by producer Michael Phillips. In the 1980s, Douglas founded a new film production company, 'The Stone Group', with his partner Rick Bieber. In 1987, Douglas starred with Glenn Close and Anne Archer in the psychological thriller Fatal Attraction. In the same year, he played businessman Gordon Gekko in the drama film "Wall Street" directed by Oliver Stone. He received an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance. He reprized the role of Gekko in the 2010 sequel "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps", also directed by Stone.

In 1989, Douglas appeared in the satirical black comedy film "The War of the Roses", in which he re-starred with Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. That year, he co-starred with Andy García and Kate Capshaw in "Black Rain," a neo-noir action thriller police crime drama film directed by Ridley Scott.

In 1992, Douglas had a successful lead role in the neo-noir erotic thriller "Basic Instinct" with Sharon Stone. While the film was a complete box office hit, it sparked controversy over its portrayals of bisexuality and lesbianism. In March 1994, Douglas announced that he had formed a new film production company, 'Douglas/Reuther Productions', in partnership with Steven Reuther. Also that year, he starred in the hit thriller "Disclosure," starring Douglas and Demi Moore, focusing on sexual harassment.

He starred in many popular movies over the next ten years. Some of these are; "Falling Down"(1993), "The American President"(1995), "The Ghost and the Darkness"(1996), "The Game"(1997) and "A Perfect Murder"( 1998). In 1998 Douglas was awarded the Crystal Globe Award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. In November 1997, he founded 'More Films', his fourth film production company.

In 2000, Douglas starred with Benicio del Toro and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the crime drama film "Traffic" directed by Steven Soderbergh. The movie was critically acclaimed. That same year, he was also critically acclaimed for his performance of a professor and novelist suffering from writer's block in the comedy-drama film "Wonder Boys" directed by Curtis Hanson. For his role, he earned nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama and a BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Douglas starred in the psychological thriller "Don't Say a Word" (2001), based on the novel of the same name. In 2003, he appeared in the comedy-drama film "It Runs in the Family", which included three generations of his family. His parents and son also starred in the movie. The film was a business for pleasure, failing both critically and at the box office. He then starred and produced the action-thriller "The Sentinel" in 2006. Meanwhile, he guest-starred on the television sitcom Will & Grace on "Fagel Attraction" as a gay cop influenced by Will Truman. He earned an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Show for his performance. In December 2007, Douglas began announcing the introduction of the TV news show 'NBC Nightly News'.

Douglas played Liberace, with Matt Damon, in the 2013 biographical drama film "Behind Candelabra," directed by Steven Soderbergh. His portrayal was critically acclaimed and was crowned with an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie at the Primetime Emmy Awards. He also won SAG and Golden Globe Awards for his performance.

He portrayed Hank Pym in the films "Ant-Man" (2015) and "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (2018) starring Paul Rudd, directed by Peyton Reed, based on the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name. He then reprized his role in "Avengers: Endgame"(2019), the sequel to the series based on the Marvel Comics superhero. In 2018, he played aging acting coach Sandy Kominsky in the comedy-drama TV series "The Kominsky Method" with Alan Arkin. He won the Golden Globe Award for his performance in the series. That same year, he appeared in "Animal World", a Chinese action-adventure movie based on the Japanese manga series Kaiji.

Private life

After 1971, Douglas began dating actress Brenda Vaccaro. The couple's relationship lasted about six years. In March 1977, Douglas married Diandra Luker, the daughter of an Austrian diplomat. The couple has a son named Cameron, born in 1978, and the couple divorced in 1995.

In March 1999, Douglas began a relationship with Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones, whom he met in Deauville, France. The couple, who got married on November 18, 2000, were born on the same day, albeit 25 years apart. The couple has two children, a son named Dylan Michael and a daughter named Carys Zeta.

Douglas is the recipient of the 2015 Genesis Prize, a $1 million prize awarded by the Genesis Prize Foundation for Jewish achievement. He donated the prize money to events designed to raise awareness in Jewish life and find innovative solutions to pressing global and societal problems. Douglas is a US citizen born in the United States and also holds British citizenship from his mother. Douglas sits on the Jefferson Public Service Awards selection committee.

In 1980, Douglas suffered a serious skiing accident, for which he had to put his acting career aside for three years. A United Nations goodwill ambassador, Douglas works on nuclear disarmament and human rights around the world. In 1997, he was ranked 74th on Empire magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time".