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Actor. Born March
17, 1951, in Springfield, Massachusetts. His father, Bing
Russell, moved to Hollywood from Maine after an injury ended his
baseball career and played the sheriff on Bonanza for fourteen
years. When Russell was only nine years old, he started out as a
stock player for Disney’s film and TV projects and starred in
his own Western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters,
alongside the young Osmond brothers, from 1963-64. Over the next
ten years, Russell appeared in ten Disney films including Follow
Me Boys! (1966), The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes (1970), and
The Strongest Man in the World (1975).
Although Russell enjoyed playing adventurous youngsters in
Disney films, he also shared his passion with the baseball
field. He followed in his father’s footsteps in a less expected
way when, in June 1973, he tore his rotator cuff and his short
career in minor league baseball came to an abrupt end. Before he
was injured, he was the top hitter in the Texas league, hitting
more than .400 for the California Angels farm team in El Paso.
In his own words, “I just wasn't going take up acting full time
until my baseball days were over, and that came sooner than I
expected.”
After this disappointment, Russell dove back into acting and
never suffered from the slump that many child actors face during
the transition to playing more mature roles. Instead, Russell
always played his age and, in his 20s, made a significant shift
to portraying some dark and complex characters, such as the
mass-murderer Charles Whitman in the TV movie, The Deadly Tower
(1975).
In 1979, Russell got to play the role of his young career in
writer-director John Carpenter’s TV biopic Elvis. His slick and
convincing portrayal of the rock idol earned him an Emmy
nomination. He also met his future wife, Season Hubley, on the
set. They married later that year, and had one child, Boston, in
1981.
Russell hit the 80s fresh from his television success and landed
the role of a charming, fast-talking car salesman in Robert
Zemeckis’ comedy, Used Cars, which went largely unrecognized
during its 1980 release. He then re-teamed with John Carpenter
for three more films, establishing himself as a major player in
the action arena. He played a Clint Eastwood type in 1981’s
Escape From New York, a paranoid tough guy in The Thing, and a
post-modern John Wayne in 1986’s Big Trouble in Little China.
In the early 1980s, during the shoot of Jonathan Demme’s comedy
Swing Shift (1984), Russell met fellow actor Goldie Hawn. The
two immediately clicked and, despite Hollywood’s constant
chatter about marriage, they have peacefully shared a residence
since 1982 and have one child together, Wyatt Russell. “We’re
very individual," Russell has said of their relationship,
"society can rule you or you can be concerned about doing what
you think is right for you."
Russell eventually made a transition to some hard-hitting
dramatic roles, playing a co-worker and lover opposite the
stellar Meryl Streep in Mike Nichol’s Silkwood, and a
hardworking firefighter in Ron Howard’s Backdraft (1991).
He took other leading dramatic roles in Tequilla Sunrise with
Mel Gibson and Michelle Pfeiffer, and Unlawful Entry (1992) with
Ray Liotta. Despite his appearance in these high-profile films,
Russell remained in the row behind such Hollywood favorites as
Mel Gibson and Kevin Costner. He comments, "in my personal
career I've slid along somewhat hidden in that I choose roles in
which the movie's not about HIM. I prefer to read good stories.
Often I'm more taken with the story than I am with character."
As a result, Russell has come to be known as Hollywood’s
“Everyman” actor, one that viewers identify with on a very
tangible, human level.
The late 90s watched Russell make a return to action films. He
once again paired up with teamster John Carpenter in 1996’s
Escape From L.A., which he also co-wrote and co-produced. In
1997, he played a man searching for his wife after his car
breaks down in the desert in Jonathan Mostow’s action/thriller
Breakdown. In 1998’s sci-fi action embarrassment, Soldier, he
played Todd, a soldier who rises from near death to save a
peaceful community from genetically engineered monsters.
In 2001, Russell costarred with Kevin Costner and Christian
Slater in the crime caper 3000 Miles to Graceland. As part of an
ensemble that included Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz, and Cameron
Diaz, he appeared in Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky in 2001 — an
American adaptation of the 1997 Spanish thriller Abre los Ojos.
Russell's next project is the drama The Miracle with Patricia
Clarkson.
Russell shares an extended family with Goldie Hawn: her son and
daughter, Oliver and Kate Hudson (Kate is also an actress) from
her marriage to Bill Hudson, his son (with Hubley), and their
son together, Wyatt. They currently reside in Los Angeles.
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