Michael Douglas

Born September 25, 1944, the elder son of Kirk Douglas, he earned his drama degree from UC Santa Barbara and cut his teeth on three Emmy-nominated seasons as a homicide inspector in The Streets of San Francisco. His first producer credit became One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - rights he'd wrested from his father - and won him the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1975. The Best Actor Oscar followed in 1987 for Wall Street, where his Gordon Gekko became the slicked-back id of an era. What followed was a run through the nerve-endings of American masculinity: The China Syndrome, Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, Falling Down, The American President. He won an Emmy for playing Liberace in Behind the Candelabra, a Golden Globe for The Kominsky Method, and spent eight years as Hank Pym in the Marvel machine. He sits on the board of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, was named a UN Messenger of Peace in 1998, and has been married to Catherine Zeta-Jones since 2000. In 2025, he announced his retirement, citing age and a desire for more time with family.