Born on December 4, 1949 in Los Angeles, Jeff Bridges made his acting debut at the age of eight, in an episode of the television series “Sea Hunt,” starring his father, Lloyd. After a stint in the Coast Guard Reserve and drama studies at New York’s Herbert Berghof Studio, he made his adult film debut in 1970 in the television movie “Halls of Anger,” detailing the struggles of a white student in an all-black high school. He soon gained acclaim (and an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor) for his performance in Peter Bogdonavich’s The Last Picture Show (1971), as Cybill Shepherd’s boyfriend. He continued to gain momentum with good performances in such films as The Iceman Cometh (1973), The Last American Hero (1973) and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), another film in which he was nominated for an Oscar®. Bridges’ good looks and winning smile, made him a hit with critics and audiences alike.
Over the course of his still ongoing career Bridges has worked on many films including the remake of King Kong (1976) with Jessica Lange, as the gal the big ape picks up, Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978), in which he had to pretend to fall in love with Farrah Fawcett, and the disastrous folly Heaven’s Gate (1980), which broke United Artists studios and tarnished director Michael Cimino forever. In the 80’s Bridges appeared in solid roles in films like Starman (1984), Jagged Edge (1985), playing his first villain to Glenn Close’s heroine, and The Morning After (1986), working opposite an alcoholic ex-actress played by Jane Fonda. At the end of the decade, Bridges appeared as an automobile mogul in Francis Ford Coppola’s Tucker,:a Man and his Dream (1988) and the critically lauded The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), alongside his brother Beau. They appeared as a piano playing lounge act that’s upset when a girl (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) joins the group. The sibling dynamics in the script prompted many to compare the onscreen brothers to the lives of the Bridges off screen; but the brothers have always shown themselves to be more cheerleaders for one another than rivals.