Kevin Kline

Kevin Kline (born October 24, 1947, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.) is an American actor who was a well-rounded and respected stage actor before beginning a film career. He is known both for his low-key intensity in dramatic roles and as a master of physical comedy.

Kline studied piano as a child and began acting while he was in high school. He attended Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he initially intended to major in music, but he switched his focus to drama, graduating in 1970. He then moved to New York City and studied (1970–72) under John Houseman in the drama division of the Juilliard School. In 1972 Kline joined The Acting Company, a repertory theatre group cofounded that year by Houseman, and he spent the next four years touring with that troupe, acting in classical and contemporary plays. He continued to perform in smaller theatres in New York City while also working in television commercials and appearing (1976) in a recurring part on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow. Kline first appeared on Broadway in 1973. His 1978 performance in the musical comedy On the Twentieth Century earned him a Tony Award for best featured actor in a musical. He won a second Tony Award (for best lead actor in a musical) for his turn as the Pirate King in a 1980–81 revival of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Kline reprised the role in the 1983 film adaptation of the play.

Kline’s film debut was opposite Meryl Streep, as Sophie’s mentally unbalanced lover in the acclaimed movie Sophie’s Choice (1982). He went on to play leading roles in The Big Chill (1983), the western Silverado (1985), the romance Violets Are Blue… (1986), and Richard Attenborough’s Cry Freedom (1987). Kline’s performance in the British-American heist comedy A Fish Called Wanda (1988; with John Cleese and Jamie Lee Curtis) netted him an Academy Award for best supporting actor. Kline later appeared in such comedies as I Love You to Death (1990) and Soapdish (1991) and the drama Grand Canyon (1991). He portrayed Douglas Fairbanks in the biopic Chaplin (1992), and he won praise for his performance as both the U.S. president and his look-alike in the political comedy Dave (1993). Kline’s films also included Ang Lee’s drama The Ice Storm (1997) and Frank Oz’s social comedy In & Out (1997). He played Bottom in Michael Hoffman’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999) and Artemus Gordon in Wild Wild West (1999).

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In the 21st century Kline appeared in Life as a House (2001), The Emperor’s Club (2002), and The Pink Panther (2006), as well as Kenneth Branagh’s As You Like It (2006). He also performed in Robert Redford’s The Conspirator (2010), played Errol Flynn in The Last of Robin Hood (2013), and portrayed Belle’s father Maurice in the Disney live-action remake Beauty and the Beast (2017). Kline’s credits from 2021 include The Good House, a dramedy in which he starred with Sigourney Weaver.

In addition, Kline continued to work in theatre, notably performing with the New York Shakespeare Festival, and in 2017 he earned a Tony Award for best lead actor in a play for his portrayal of an aging movie star in a revival of Noël Coward’s Present Laughter. He joined a star-studded cast in The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts (2019), playing Robert Mueller in a dramatic reading of the special counsel’s report to the Department of Justice regarding the investigation of possible Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election of 2016.