Richard Gere

He married Cindy Crawford in 1991 but divorced her four years later.

In 2002, he married Carey Lowell, model and actress, and they have a son together, Homer James Jigme Gere. In September 2013, they separated due to lifestyle differences.

From very early on, he was interested in Buddhism and has been an active human rights activist in Tibet. In order to get people to support his cause, he established ‘The Gere Foundation’ and also founded the ‘Tibet House’.

Richard Tiffany Gere was born on August 31, 1949 to Doris Ann and Homer George Gere in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

He studied at North Syracuse Central High School, where he shined in gymnastics and music. He graduated from there in 1967.

He then attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he majored in philosophy. He did not, however, graduate from the university and dropped out after two years.

In 1971, he worked for the Seattle Repertory Theatre and Provincetown Playhouse, where he was cast in ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead’. Two years later, he was offered his first big break in theater with the stage adaptation of ‘Grease’.

In 1975, he made his motion picture debut as ‘Billy’ in the film, ‘Report to the Commissioner’. The following year, he starred in ‘Baby Blue Marine’.

However, he earned his first big break in the thriller, ‘Looking for Mr. Goodbar’ in 1977, which was lauded by the audience and critics. After the success of this film, Terrence Malick gave him a role in the hit film, ‘Days of Heaven’, the next year.

By 1979, he had already established himself as a bankable actor and was the first actor to play the role of a homosexual Holocaust victim in the Broadway Production, ‘Bent’. The same year, he starred in the film ‘Yanks’ as Matt Dyson.

Year 1980 brought with it good luck for Gere. His major motion picture breakthrough came with the film, ‘American Gigolo’, where he played the role of Julian Kaye. This movie earned him the status of America’s favorite ‘sex-symbol’.

In 1978, Gere was cast in ‘Days of Heaven’, which was very well received at the box-office. Considered one of his greatest earlier works, the film went on to win a number of awards and was even showcased at the Cannes Film Festival. This was one of the first few films that established his acting talent.

‘Pretty Woman’, released in 1990, is a romantic-comedy starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. This is regarded as one of his major works, because he initially starred in a string of unsuccessful films. However, with this one film, he bounced back and cemented his reputation as one of the best ‘leading men’ in Hollywood along with establishing his lover-boy image. He went on to earn a Golden Globe nomination for ‘Best Actor’ for this movie, which collected a whopping $463,407,268 at the box office.

In 2002, he starred in ‘Chicago’ a musical film that also starred Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellweger. The film grossed $306,403,013 around the world and he went on to bag Golden Globe Award for his performance in the movie.