Kurt Russell Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Kurt Russell
Russell at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con
Born	Kurt Vogel Russell (1951-03-17) March 17, 1951 (age 74) Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	Thousand Oaks High School
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1962–present
Spouse(s)	Season Hubley (m. 1979; div. 1983)
Partner(s)	Goldie Hawn (1983–present)
Children	2, including Wyatt
Parent(s)	Bing Russell (father)
Relatives	Matt Franco (nephew)

Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is a famous American actor. He started acting when he was a child. Later, he became a leading actor in many different types of movies. These included action films, science-fiction, westerns, and comedies. He has worked with well-known directors like John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino. Kurt Russell has won awards and received nominations for his acting.

He began his acting journey at age 12 in a TV Western series called The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. In the late 1960s, he signed a long contract with The Walt Disney Company. He starred in popular Disney movies like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969) and The Strongest Man in the World (1975). He was nominated for an Primetime Emmy Award for playing Elvis Presley in the TV movie Elvis (1979).

Kurt Russell was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role in the movie Silkwood (1983). He often worked with director John Carpenter on action and horror films. Some of these include Escape from New York (1981) and The Thing (1982). He has appeared in many other popular films. These include Overboard (1987), Tombstone (1993), and Stargate (1994).

More recently, Russell has starred in big movie series. He played Mr. Nobody in three Fast & Furious films. He was also Ego the Living Planet in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017). He even played Santa Claus in the Netflix movies The Christmas Chronicles (2018) and The Christmas Chronicles 2 (2020).

Early Life and Beginnings
Acting Career Highlights
Personal Life
Awards and Recognition
Images for kids
See also

Early Life and Beginnings

Kurt Vogel Russell was born on March 17, 1951, in Springfield, Massachusetts. His father, Bing Russell, was also an actor. His mother, Louise Julia Russell, was a dancer. Kurt has English, Irish, German, and Scottish family roots. He has three sisters: Jill, Jamie, and Jody.

His family moved to California when he was young. He grew up in Thousand Oaks. Kurt played baseball in school and was a good player. He graduated from Thousand Oaks High School in 1969. He even played professional baseball for a short time in the minor leagues. However, a shoulder injury in 1973 ended his baseball career. This led him back to acting.

Acting Career Highlights

Starting as a Child Actor

Russell with Robert Vaughn in a 1964 episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Kurt Russell first appeared in a movie without being credited. It was It Happened at the World's Fair (1963), where he kicked Elvis Presley in the leg. In 1963, he got the main role in the TV Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. He also guest-starred in other TV shows like The Fugitive and Gunsmoke. At 13, he played Jungle Boy on an episode of Gilligan's Island.

In 1966, Kurt signed a ten-year contract with Walt Disney Productions. He became one of Disney's top stars in the 1970s. His first Disney film was Follow Me, Boys! (1966). Walt Disney himself believed Kurt had a great future in acting. Kurt continued to appear in Disney films like The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), which was a big success. He also starred in Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1971) and The Strongest Man in the World (1975).

Moving to Hollywood Roles

Russell in a 1974 publicity photo

Kurt Russell was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role as Elvis Presley in the 1979 TV movie Elvis. This role helped him move from being a child actor to taking on more adult roles in Hollywood. The movie was directed by John Carpenter, and they worked together many times after that.

To change his image from Disney films, Russell played the tough character Snake Plissken in the science fiction movie Escape from New York (1981). He also voiced Copper as an adult in the Disney animated film The Fox and the Hound (1981). He reunited with John Carpenter for the horror film The Thing.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his acting in Silkwood (1983). In 1984, he starred in Swing Shift with Goldie Hawn, who later became his long-term partner. He also played an anti-hero truck driver in another Carpenter film, Big Trouble in Little China (1986). A popular comedy he starred in with Goldie Hawn was Overboard.

In the 1990s, Russell took on many different roles. He played a firefighter in Backdraft (1991). He was the famous lawman Wyatt Earp in the Western Tombstone (1993). He also played Colonel Jack O'Neil in the science fiction film Stargate (1994). He even had an uncredited voice role as Elvis Presley in Forrest Gump (1994). He returned as Snake Plissken in Escape from L.A. (1996).

Recent Films and Big Franchises

In 2001, Kurt Russell appeared in the thriller Vanilla Sky. His role as U.S. Olympic hockey coach Herb Brooks in the 2004 film Miracle received great reviews. Critics praised his performance. In 2005, he played a horse trainer in Dreamer and a father with superpowers in Sky High.

He starred in Poseidon (2006). He also played the villainous Stuntman Mike in Quentin Tarantino's film Death Proof (2007). He worked with Tarantino again in The Hateful Eight (2015) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).

Kurt Russell joined the Fast & Furious movie series as Mr. Nobody, appearing in Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), and F9 (2021). In 2016, he was in Deepwater Horizon, a film about a real-life oil spill. In 2017, he played Star-Lord's father, Ego, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. He also voiced Ego in the animated series What If...? from 2021 to 2023.

In 2018, he took on the role of Santa Claus in the Netflix movie The Christmas Chronicles, and returned for the sequel The Christmas Chronicles 2 in 2020. In 2023, he began a main role in the series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.

Personal Life

Russell at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival

Kurt Russell married actress Season Hubley in 1979. They had a son named Boston. They divorced in 1983. After that, Kurt began a relationship with actress Goldie Hawn. They have a son together, Wyatt Russell. They have been partners since 1983 and have homes in different places. Kurt Russell has said that he and Goldie Hawn never felt the need to get married. He believes a marriage certificate would not change their strong relationship.

Kurt Russell is a private pilot. He holds licenses for flying different types of planes. He is also an Honorary Council Member of Wings of Hope, an organization that uses aviation for good causes. In 2010, he was recognized as a "Living Legend of Aviation."

Awards and Recognition

Kurt Russell has received many awards and nominations throughout his career.

In 1996, he won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Actor in an Action/Adventure film for Executive Decision.
He was inducted into the Disney Legends Awards in 1998 for his work with the studio.
In 2016, he won a Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Actor for Bone Tomahawk. He was also inducted into the Fangoria Hall of Fame.
He received the Life Career Award from the Saturn Awards in 2002, which celebrates actors with long and successful careers in science fiction, fantasy, and horror films.
In 2015, he won an Ensemble Award at the Hollywood Film Awards for his role in The Hateful Eight.
In 2017, Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This honored their achievements in movies.
He was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the Western Heritage Awards in 2021.
In 2024, he won a Critics' Choice Super Award for Best Actor in a Science Fiction/Fantasy Series or Movie for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters.