Billy Zane

Billy Zane married actress Lisa Collins on April 2, 1989. They divorced in 1995 after six years of marriage. Since then, he had been engaged to Chilean actress Leonor Varela, who played the titular role in ‘Cleopatra’, and British model and actress Kelly Brook, whom he met on the set of ‘Survival Island’ (2005). Both these engagements were called off.

He was introduced to American model Candice Neil by her sister in 2010. They have two daughters together, Ava Catherine (born 2011) and Gia (born 2014). The couple got engaged in April 2013, but had to put the wedding plans on hold due to Candice being pregnant with Gia at the time.

Born on February 24, 1966, in Chicago, Illinois, Billy Zane is the youngest son of amateur actors Thalia and William George Zane, Sr, who established a school for medical technicians together.

His father could track back his ancestry to the Greek region of Mani while his mother to the island of Chios. They anglicised the family’s original surname Zanikopoulos to Zane. His older sister, Lisa Zane, is an actress and singer-songwriter,

He grew up in relative affluence. The pursuit of art was encouraged in the Zane household, expected even. Still a teenager, he enrolled at the Harand Camp of the Theater Arts in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

In 1982, he went abroad to Switzerland to study at The American School in Switzerland (TASIS) and later received his graduation degree from Francis W. Parker School in Chicago.

Billy Zane’s acting career began on stage. After graduating high school, he came to California in search of work and was cast as Match in the first ‘Back to the Future’ film within three weeks of his arrival. He would reprise the role in the first sequel of the film, ‘Back to the Future II’ (1989).

His next film was another 1980s classic, ‘Critters’ (1986). He made his first television appearance in ‘Brotherhood of Justice’ in 1987, portraying the character Les. He also worked in the music video for Sheena Easton's song "Do It For Love".

He guest-starred in ABC’s crime-drama ‘Heart of the City’ (1986), NBC’s legal drama ‘Matlock’ (1987), NBC’s mystery drama ‘Crime Story’ (1988), and CBS’s detective fiction ‘Murder, She Wrote’.

Zane received his first Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Actor nomination for playing the antagonist in the Australian psychological thriller ‘Dead Calm’ (1989). In the television film ‘The Case of the Hillside Strangler’, he portrayed the American serial killer Kenneth Bianchi.

In 1990, he starred in two films: the indie gem ‘Megaville’ and ‘Memphis Blue’, a war drama based on the 1943 documentary Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress by director William Wyler.

Billy Zane’s casting as Caledon Hockley in James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’ came as a surprise to many. The role was originally offered to Matthew McConaughey and Rob Lowe was aggressively lobbying for it as well. But Zane’s classical good looks combined with his ability to tap into his spoiled-brat countenance won him the role. The film was nominated for 14 Oscars, winning 11 and is the second highest-grossing movie (after Cameron’s 2009 science fiction epic ‘Avatar’) of all time.