Bruce Dern
Born: June 4 1936
Where: Chicago, Illinois, USA
The actor is probably best known for his Oscar-nominated supporting role as a disillusioned Vietnam vet in Coming Home with Jane Fonda and Jon Voight.
The method-trained actor has also made notable peformances in Middle Age Crazy, The Great Gatsby, D
Expected to follow the family tradition of becoming a lawyer, Dern followed the rebellious example of James Dean.
"I decided I wanted to be an artist as an actor - I geared my whole life , lifestyle and all my energies to that end," he said.
After studying at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio in New York he landed roles on Broadway and in 1960 was cast by Elia Kazan in Wild River.
In the 1960s, Dern moved easily between TV (Wagon Train, The Fugitive) and features (Hitchcock's Marnie, The Wild Angels and The Trip).
He then began to take on more complex roles such as They Shoot Horses Don't They? and the Western spoof Support Your Local Sheriff.
After his appearance in The Cowboys, in which he was one of the few actors to kill John Wayne, he received death threats.
In Jack Nicholson's Drive, He Said he won critical praise as the zealous basketball coach and the rebellious botanist in Douglas Trumbull's cult sci-fi hit Silent Running.
One of his most celebrated roles was the wealthy, spoiled Tom Buchanan in Jack Clayton's The Great Gatsby which he followed with Hal Ashby's Coming Home.
Other highlights include That Championship Season as a power-crazy mayor and After Dark, My Sweet as a slippery conman.
Subsequent roles include the sheriff in Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis and Mr Dudley in Jan De Bont's remake of the horror-thriller The Haunting in 1999.
He played a judge in All The Pretty Horses and also starred in the 2001 Daniel Sackheim thriller The Glass House.
The former husband of Diane Ladd, he is the father of actress Laura Dern (a second daughter died after accidentally drowning aged 18 months).
Recent roles have included the biker pal of serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster, featuring an Oscar-winning performance from Charlize Theron.
