JEFF BRIDGES (Obadiah Stane) recently wrapped production on “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.” He last starred in “Stick It” for Touchstone Pictures, in which he played the coach of a team of rule-abiding gymnasts. He is one of Hollywood’s most successful actors and is a four-time Academy Award® nominee. He earned his first Oscar® nod in 1971 for Best Supporting Actor in Peter Bogdanovich’s “The Last Picture Show” co-starring Cybill Shepherd. Three years later he received a second Best Supporting Actor nomination for his role in Michael Cimino’s “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.” In 1984, he landed top kudos with a Best Actor nomination for “Starman.” That performance also earned him a Golden Globe nomination.
In 2001, he was honored with another Golden Globe nomination and his fourth Oscar® nomination for his role in “The Contender,” Rod Lurie’s political thriller co-starring Gary Oldman and Joan Allen, in which Bridges played the President of the United States.
Last summer, Bridges lent his voice in “Surf’s Up,” from Sony Pictures Animation, a film that went behind the scenes of the high-octane world of competitive pro-penguin surfing. Bridges voiced the lead character, Geek (a King Penguin) a cantankerous, washed-up surfer living the life of a recluse until a hot-shot kid named Cody (Shia LaBeouf) enters his world and disrupts his life. In 2005, Bridges appeared in “The Moguls” a comedy written and directed by Michael Traeger, and “Tideland” directed by Terry Gilliam.
Bridges’ multi-faceted career has encompassed all genres. He has starred in numerous box office hits, including Gary Ross’s “Seabiscuit,” Terry Gilliam’s offbeat comedic drama “The Fisher King” (co-starring Robin Williams), the multi-award nominated “The Fabulous Baker Boys” (co-starring his brother Beau Bridges and Michelle Pfeiffer), “Jagged Edge” (opposite Glenn Close), Francis Ford Coppola’s “Tucker: The Man and His Dream,” “Blown Away” (co-starring his father Lloyd Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones), Peter Weir’s “Fearless” (with Isabella Rossellini and Rosie Perez), and Martin Bell’s “American Heart” (with Edward Furlong, produced by Bridges’ company AsIs Productions). That film earned Bridges an IFP/Spirit Award in 1993 for Best Actor.
In the summer of 2004, he appeared opposite Kim Basinger in “The Door in the Floor,” for director Todd Williams and Focus Features, which earned him an IFP/Spirit Award nomination for Best Actor. He has also appeared in the suspense thriller “Arlington Road” (co-starring Tim Robbins and Joan Cusack, directed by Mark Pellington.)
He played a major featured role in “The Muse” (an Albert Brooks comedy starring Brooks, Sharon Stone and Andie McDowell), and starred in “Simpatico,” the screen version of Sam Shepard’s play (with Nick Nolte, Sharon Stone and Albert Finney). In 1998, he starred in the Coen brothers’ cult comedy “The Big Lebowski.” Before that, he starred in Ridley Scott’s “White Squall,” Walter Hill’s “Wild Bill,” John Huston’s “Fat City” and Barbra Streisand’s romantic comedy “The Mirror Has Two Faces.”
Bridges’ other acting credits include “K-PAX,” “Masked and Anonymous,” “Stay Hungry,” “Bad Company,” “Against All Odds,” “Cutter’s Way,” “The Vanishing,” “Texasville,” “The Morning After,” “Nadine,” “Rancho Deluxe,” “See You in the Morning,” “Eight Million Ways to Die,” “The Last American Hero” and “Hearts of the West.”
In 1983, Bridges founded the End Hunger Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to feeding children around the world. Bridges produced “End Hunger,” a three-hour live television broadcast focusing on world hunger. The television event featured Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon, Burt Lancaster, Bob Newhart, Kenny Loggins and other leading film, television and music stars in an innovative production designed to educate and inspire action.
Through his company, AsIs Productions, he produced “Hidden in America,” which starred his brother Beau. The television movie, produced for Showtime, received a Golden Globe nomination in 1996 for Best TV/Cable Film and garnered a Screen Actors Guild nod for Best Actor for Beau Bridges. The film was also nominated for two Emmy Awards. Current AsIs projects in development include “The Giver,” based on Lois Lowry’s Newbery Award-winning novel.
One of Bridges’ true passions is photography. While on the set of his movies, he takes behind-the-scenes pictures of the cast, crew and locations. After completion of each motion picture, he edits the images into a book and gives copies to everyone involved. His photos have been featured in several magazines, including Premiere and Aperture, as well as in other publications worldwide. He has also had gallery exhibits of his work in New York at the George Eastman House, and in Los Angeles, London and San Diego.
The books, which have become valued by collectors, were never intended for public sale but, in the fall of 2003, PowerHouse Books released Pictures: Pictures by Jeff Bridges, a hardcover book containing a compilation of photos taken on numerous film locations over the years, to much critical acclaim.
Proceeds from the book are donated to the Motion Picture & Television Fund, a non-profit organization that offers charitable care and support to film-industry workers.
A few years ago, Bridges fulfilled a lifelong dream by releasing his first album, “Be Here Soon,” on Ramp Records, the Santa Barbara, CA label he co-founded with Michael McDonald and producer/singer/songwriter Chris Pelonis. The CD features guest appearances by vocalist/keyboardist Michael McDonald, Grammy-nominated Amy Holland, and country-rock legend David Crosby. Ramp Records also released Michael McDonald’s album “Blue Obsession.”
Jeff, his wife Susan and their three children divide their time between their home in Santa Barbara, California, and their ranch in Montana.
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