Real Name: Michael Douglas Birthday: September 25, 1944 Place of Birth: New Brunswick, NJ

Education: Choate, Wallingford, CT; Black Fox Military Academy; University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara (drama); Neighborhood Playhouse, New York, NY; American Place Theatre, New York, NY;Studied with Wynn Handman.

Significant Others: Vaccaro, Brenda. Actor. Met on set of Summertree; together 1970-76. Wife: Douglas, Diandra. Producer. Met in Washington, D.C. the night before Jimmy Carter's inauguration; married in 1977, separated in 1995.

Family:Mother: Diana. (aka Dill) Actor. Father: Kirk. Actor, producer. Brother: Joel Douglas. Producer. Born January 23, 1947; head of Victorine Studios in Nice, France. Half-brother: Peter Douglas. Producer. Half-brother: Eric Douglas. Actor, comedian. Son: Cameron Douglas--Mother, Diandra Douglas.

Awards:

1975: Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture-Drama for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

1975: Oscar for Best Picture for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

1980: Genie for Best Foreign Actor for Running.

1984: NATO Producer of the Year Award.

1987: Oscar for Best Actor for Wall Street.

1987: Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture for Wall Street.

1987: National Board of Review Award for Best Actor for Wall Street.

1996: People's Choice Award, Special Tribute. For his film and television career as an actor, producer and film executive.

1998: Cesar Award: Honorary Award for Film Contributions


A double threat in modern Hollywood filmmaking, Douglas has been a major force as both producer and actor. He began as an assistant director on father Kirk Douglas's 1960s films. The darkly handsome actor appeared in several typical features portraying idealistic youths confronting the issues of the day {Hail, Hero! (1969); Adam at 6 A.M. (1970); Summertree (1971)}, then co-starred with Karl Malden in the TV cop drama The Streets of San Francisco (ABC, 1972-77).

Douglas hit a home run with his feature executive producing debut: Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) netted major box office returns and five Oscars, including a Best Picture statuette shared by Douglas and Saul Zaentz.

Douglas joined forces with Jane Fonda's IPC Films to co-produce The China Syndrome (1979), which benefited greatly from the fortuitous timing of the near meltdown crisis at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. Douglas starred with Fonda and Jack Lemmon, the latter pair earning Oscar nominations.

Until Romancing the Stone (1984), Douglas was more highly regarded as a producer than an actor. His portrayal of Jack Colton, the amiably smug adventurer, was a superb delineation of a black sheep Indiana Jones. Essentially a feminist take on Raiders and its ilk, the film profitably teamed him with Kathleen Turner and Danny De Vito for a rollicking, fast-paced comedy adventure. This trio also collaborated on the inevitable sequel, Jewel of the Nile (1985) and, most impressively, DeVito's black comedy of divorce, War of the Roses (1989).

One characteristic that distinguishes Douglas from most other stars of his generation is the overt sleaziness of his screen persona. He exudes an arrogance that serve as a critique of his characters, though at the same time his Everyman quality has served as a centerpiece for vehicles in which he is victimized by the lead female characters. These qualities effectively underlined the hypocrisy and the helplessness of his protagonist in Fatal Attraction (1987), revealed the basic pettiness and mean-spiritedness of the husband in The War of the Roses, and proved spellbinding in his Oscar-winning portrayal of corporate raider Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987).

In 1988, Douglas formed Stonebridge Entertainment, Inc., which produced Joel Schumacher's Flatliners (1990) and Richard Donner's Radio Flyer (1992), and dabbled in an attempt to revive the failed Victorine Studios in Nice, France.

Douglas's next outing was as the producer of Made in America (1993), a successful comic pairing (off-screen and on) of Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson. He was threatened by a woman once again, as the star of Disclosure (1994) opposite Demi Moore. Based on Michael Crichton's bestselling novel, the film tells the story of a male executive sexually harassed by his female boss.

Douglas left sleaze behind in the charming 1995 comedy The American President, directed by Rob Reiner and co-starring Annette Bening and Michael J. Fox. Douglas was surprisingly light and breezy as widowed President Shepherd, trying to balance running the Free World and romancing an environmental lobbyist.

In 1994 he signed a development deal at Paramount; among his many development projects was producing and starring in the historical adventure The Ghost and the Darkness (1996). The psychological thriller The Game followed in 1997, with Douglas taking on the role of a lonely businessman who becomes the "target" in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse. He also starred with Gwyneth Paltrow in 1998's A Perfect Murder. The film, a "remake" of Alfred Hitchcock's classic Dial M For Murder, was a huge hit at the box office and proved that Douglas still had what it takes to carry a major motion picture.

Douglas also served as Executive Producer on the 1997 Matt Damon hit, The Rainmaker, as well as the biggest action film of 1997, the John Woo-directed Face/Off.

Future projects include Still Life with Meryl Streep (1999), and A Song for David (2000) in which Douglas will finally get the chance to work with his father, Kirk.

He also signed a deal with October Films in 1998. The first project slated with the company is ``One Night at McCool's,'' a Stan Siedel script which Douglas and Allison Segan will produce at October with Douglas possibly playing a role.

In early 1998, Douglas was listed in Premiere magazine's annual Power List, ranking the 100 most powerful people in Hollywood. This year Douglas ranked number 54.

Currently Douglas serves as a UN Messenger of Peace and is very active in promoting peace and fighting for human rights and weapons bans throughout the world. His film "Wonder Boys" opened February 25, 2000.

Douglas is engaged to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and the couple are expecting their first child later this year.