Hollywood executives yearned to put Kevin Kline into a blockbuster film that would make him a bona fide movie star, but that type of fame just wouldn't suit the mild-mannered mid-westerner, so full of talent that there was little room for ego.

Happily, with the exception of Wild Wild West (1999), Kline has built a career of outstanding performances in ensemble films rather than headlining in tinsel-town bombast.

Born on October, 24, 1947 in St. Louis, Kevin Delaney Kline was drawn to acting at school in suburban Missouri and pursued theater at Indiana University at Bloomington. Accepted to the drama program at the prestigious Juilliard school in Manhattan, Kline moved east and in 1972 joined the New York Acting Company under John Houseman. Touring and gaining recognition as a gifted Shakespearean actor, Kline won both Tony and Drama Desk Awards in 1978 for his performance in "On the Twentieth Century," and he did it again in 1981 for his swashbuckling performance in Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance," in whose 1983 film version he would also appear.

After a brief dabbling in soap opera, Kline debuted in Hollywood playing Meryl Streep's schizophrenic boyfriend in the highly acclaimed drama Sophie's Choice (1982). Kline next joined an incredible roster of talent in the baby-boomer classic The Big Chill (1983), which marked the start of a fruitful relationship with director Lawrence Kasdan, who again recruited Kline for his western ensemble film Silverado (1985). After portraying a liberal journalist in apartheid South Africa in Cry Freedom (1987), Kline banded with yet another top-shelf cast in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and ended up with an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. In 1989 Kline turned down the lead role of Batman and instead delivered hilarious performances in the underrated ticklers I Love You To Death (1990) and Soapdish (1991), as well as the acclaimed meaning-of-life drama Grand Canyon (1991). His role as a small employment agency owner recruited as the President's double in Dave (1993) was followed by additional comedies Princess Caraboo (1994) (whose title role went to Phoebe Cates, Kline's wife since 1989), and his fifth Kasdan-directed flick French Kiss (1995) opposite Meg Ryan. Kline reunited with the cast of A Fish Called Wanda to make the comedy Fierce Creatures (1997), which despite the identical roster was not actually a sequel. Next up was In and Out (1997), the comedy inspired by a Tom Hanks acceptance speech in which Kline plays a married high school drama teacher whose sexuality is in question. Changing gears, Kline showed his versatility in Ang Lee's Cannes-winning family drama The Ice Storm (1997) before getting caught up in a Shakespeare-smitten Hollywood version of A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) and the widely jeered Wild Wild West (1999). 

Kline has been heard in animations such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and its sequel The Hunchback of Notre Dame II(2002), as well as The Road to El Dorado (2000). He also appears with his wife and children playing themselves in the engrossing ensemble drama The Anniversary Party (2001). His latest projects include the tearjerker Life as a House (2001), and prep-school parable The Emperor's Club (2002).

Credit: amctv.com