Robert Redford

Born: 18th August 1937
Where: Santa Monica, California

The former teenage delinquent occupies a rarefied place in the Hollywood firmament both as an actor for the likes of Butch Cassidy and as an Oscar-winning director.

Career highlights have included The Way We Were and The Sting - movies which kept him as the number one box office draw for three years.

The son of an accountant for Standard Oil, the young Redford stole hubcaps as a teenager and lost his baseball scholarship from the University of Colorado because of drunkenness.

In 1957, he travelled to Europe where he painted before returning to the USA and settling in New York where he took up acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

The following year Lola Van Wagenen dropped out of college to marry Redford - they divorced in 1985 after having four children, one who died of sudden infant death syndrome.

In the late 1950s and early 60s, he worked on the several Broadway production with his biggest success in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park.

He also appeared in several television programmes, and made his film debut in 1962 with War Hunt, the antiwar drama set during the Korean conflict.

Following this he gradually started winning bigger feature roles: He was a bisexual movie star who marries Natalie Wood in Inside Daisy Clover, and re-teamed with her a year later in 1966 for Sydney Pollack's This Property Is Condemned.

But his big step into stardom came in 1967 when he again starred opposite Jane Fonda in the movie version of Barefoot in the Park.

(the same year he turned down Dustin Hoffman's role of Ben Braddock in The Graduate because he didn't feel he could project the right level of naivete).

He reaffirmed his star status two years later - when he was 32 - with his iconic performance opposite Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Redford didn't trade on his "pretty-boy" looks but instead sought out challenging and intelligent film projects, from Downhill Racer and Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here to The Candidate.

He was considered for the role of Michael Corleone for The Godfather - but director Francis Ford Coppola overrode his producer's wishes and went for the relatively unknown Al Pacino.

In 1973, he re-teamed with Paul Newman for the con-artist comedy The Sting (for which he earned his first Oscar nomination) and struck box office gold opposite Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were.

Subsequent successful outings included the role of Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby and that of investigative journalist Bob Woodward in All The Presidents Men alongside Hoffman.

He used his clout to advance environmental causes and his newfound wealth to acquire Utah property, which he transformed into a ranch and the Sundance ski resort.

In 1980, he established the Sundance Institute for aspiring filmmakers, and its annual film festival has become one of the world's most influential.

He also moved behind the camera to make his directing debut with Ordinary People, a highly charged drama about the slow disintegration of a middle-class family, which won him an Academy Award for his efforts.

Besides his directing and producing duties, Redford did not stop acting - he made a fine romantic lead opposite Meryl Streep in Sydney Pollack's Oscar-winning Out of Africa in 1985.

In 1992, he starred as a veteran computer hacker in the enjoyable Sneakers and he earned Oscar nominations for directing and co-producing the superbly crafted Quiz Show.

The following year he playd the tycoon who offers $1m to sleep with Demi Moore in Indecent Proposal.

A year later he announced the formation of Sundance Cinemas, a chain of cinemas that will only show independent films.

In 1998, he directed and starred alongside Kristin Scott Thomas in the romance The Horse Whisperer and went on to star opposite Brad Pitt in Tony Scott's thriller Spy Game.

He starred in the kidnap drama The Clearing with Willem Dafoe and recent work includes Lasse Hallstrom's drama An Unfinished Life with Jennifer Lopez.