Kris Kristofferson

Born: June 22, 1936
Where: Brownsville, Texas, USA

The folk-singer turned actor is probably best known for his Golden Globe-winning performance opposite Barbra Streisand in A Star Is Born.

Other high-profile performances include Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid and Martin Scorcese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

Recently, he has appeared as Wesley Snipes' trusted sidekick Whistley in the vampire hunting Blade saga.

The son of an US Air Force major general, Kristofferson spent his youth moving around the country before settling in San Mateo, California.

A graduate of California's Pomona College, where he majored in creative writing, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University.

After serving for more than four years as an army captain and pilot he turned down a teaching point at the West Point military academy to move to Nashville and pursue a music career.

To makes ends meet, he was forced to take jobs as a bartender, janitor at Columbia Studios and a helicopter pilot ferrying workers to Gulf oil rigs.

In 1970, his persistence paid off when Johnny Cash's Sunday Morning Coming Down won the country music Song of the Year.

(he'd landed his helicopter in Cash's backyard in a bid to get the country star to take one of his songs).

At the same time his acting career lifted off when he made his big screen debut as a minstrel wrangler in Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie in 1971.

The following year he landed his first lead part as a former rock star and drug addict in Cisco Pike with Gene Hackman.

Roles followed in Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid with James Coburn, Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore opposite Ellen Burstyn.

In 1976, he kicked dring and drugs (his ex-wife Rita Coolidge divorced him after he was drinking a bottle of Jack Daniels a day) and also attracted critical praise for A Star is Born.

Less welcome was the Razzle Award nomination for Heaven's Gate and an undistinguished appearance in the sci-fi thriller Millennium.

After his portrayal of a Vietnam vet in Coming Home, Kristofferson concentrated on TV movies and minor films until he essayed the sheriff in Lone Star in 1996.

In 1998, he made his first appearance as Abraham Whistler in Blade and went on to play Karubi in Tim Burton's "re-imagining" of Planet of the Apes.

The indifferent Sly Stallone thriller D-Tox followed before Kristofferson reprised the role of Whistler in Blade II.

During his parallel songwriting career, he penned hits including Me and Bobby McGee, Help Me Make It Through The Night and For The Good Times.

Constantly on the road, he enjoyed spells as part of The Highwaymen with old friends Willie Nelson and the late Cash and Waylon Jennings.

A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, he was Oscar-nominated for original song score for the 1984 movie Songwriter which teamed him with Nelson.

In 2004, he starred in the John Sayles thriller Silver City before again taking the role of Whistler for Blade: Trinity.

Recent work includes the role of a deranged doctor in the psychological thriller The Jacket.