Richard Gere

Born: August 31 1949
Where: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Gere first attracted attention decked out in navy whites while sweeping Debra Winger off her feet in An Officer and a Gentleman.

He has gone on to enjoy considerable success in movies including Pretty Woman, The Runaway Bride and Chicago.

Offscreen, he is famous for his public championing of the cause of Tibetan freedom from Chinese rule.

The second of five children, Gere's father was an insurance salesman while his mother had musical leanings.

He started early as a musician, playing instruments in high school and writing music for high school productions.

He graduated from North Syracuse Central High School in 1967 and went on to win a gymnastics scholarship to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, where he majored in philosophy.

However, he dropped out after two years to pursue acting, landing a lead role in the London production of the rock musical Grease in 1973.

After a few underwhelming big screen roles - Operation Undercover and Baby Blue Marine - he gained notice in 1977 opposite Diana Keaton in Looking For Mr Goodbar.

He landed his first leads in two films released a week apart in autumn 1978; Terrence Malick's elegiac Days of Heaven and Bloodbrothers.

The same year he also discovered his interest in Tibet, when he travelled to neighoburing Nepal, where he heard of the plight of monks and lamas.

His profile was raised in 1980 when he played a male prostitute in American Gigolo and he enjoyed his greatest commercial success of the 80s with An Officer and a Gentleman.

The Cotton Club was a disaster, and a lack of screen chemistry with co-star Kim Basinger doomed the melodrama No Mercy.

Two years later he turned down the lead in the hit action thriller Die Hard which would eventually go to Bruce Willis.

However, he was back on the up playing a corrupt cop opposite Andy Garcia in the slick crime caper Internal Affairs.

He then hit paydirt in 1990 with Pretty Woman, which revealed a strong screen chemistry with co-star Julia Roberts.

In 1991, he married supermodel Cindy Crawford in Las Vegas. The couple divorced four years later.

He was also the first man to appear on the cover of Vogue - George Clooney was the second.

Gere made his executive producing debut with the psychological thriller, Final Analysis, in which he also starred.

In 1993, he starred in mystery romance Sommersby - the American version of The Return of Martin Guerre - with Jodie Foster.

Subsequent appearances included the romantic dramas Mr Jones and Intersection as well as Lancelor in the medieval caper First Knight.

In 1996, he starred in the thriller Primal Fear and also appeared in the ill advised remake of the Day of the Jackal, The Jackal.

The Runaway Bride marked his re-pairing with Pretty Woman co-star Julia Roberts although subsequent outings - Autumn in New York and Dr T & The Women - fared less well.

In 2002, he starred in the thriller The Mothman Prophecies and scored a box office success with Unfaithful opposite Oscar-nominated Diane Lane.

The same year he won his first Golden Globe for his appearance as Billy Flynn in the big screen version of the musical Chicago.

In 2005, he starred opposite Jennifer Lopez in the romantic comedy Shall We Dance.