Richard Dreyfuss

Born: 29 October 1947
Where: Brooklyn, New York

Only ever interested in performing from an early age, Richard started in theatre from the tender age of nine. His TV debut followed shortly after and it wasn't long before the young actor was seen in his first feature.

He soared to stardom during the 1970's with his uncanny ability to make vain, pompous or otherwise annoying characters seem both heroic and strangely likeable.

Richard enjoyed small parts in films such as The Graduate and The Young Runaways and continued to act on the stage. But he wasn't really noticed until he exploded onto the scene in 1973 with a performance as Baby Face Nelson in Dillinger and a star-making turn in George Lucas' surprise mega-hit American Graffiti.

Moving into the mid-70's, Richard became further established as the lead for Steven Spielberg in two of the decade's top-grossing films, Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

And, at 29 years of age, he became the youngest actor ever to win the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in The Goodbye Girl in 1977.

But, poised to become one of the major superstars of the 80's, Richard blew his movie-star career sky-high through a cocktail of cocaine, booze, pills and arrogance.

After all but vanishing for five years, he returned clean and sober to co-star with Bette Midler and Nick Nolte in Paul Mazursky's popular Down and Out in Beverly Hills in 1986.

Roles in movies and on the stage have followed and, in 1995, Richard earned a well-deserved second Academy Award nomination as Best Actor for Mr. Holland's Opus.