He was born on August 17th, 1960 in Los Angeles Country, California. Father Leo was an actor cum director and mother Eileen was an actress. Imbibed from the profession of his parents and himself turned into a very successful film actor and director.
His career started in 1974 when he appeared in ‘Little House on the Prairie’ this film was a great success with three Golden Globe Nominations. Since then, he has performed in more than 40 movies. Like his father ventured into the field of direction his debut as a director was in ‘The Indian Runner’. His forthcoming film is ‘Milk’, in which he is playing the character of Harvey Milk. This film is expected to be released during last quarter of 2008.
He married Madonna, the pop star, in 1985 however the couple separated in 1989. Robin Wright then came in his life and they got their first baby, Dylan Frances, in 1991 and the second baby, Hopper Jack, in 1993. He and Wright finally married formally in the year 1996.
He received Berlin Silver Bear Award for Best Actor in 1996. He also got the Best Actor Award at Cannes Film Festival in 1997. He got Venice Volpi Cup for Best Actor in 1998 & 2003 for ‘Hurlyburly’ and ‘21 Grams’ respectively. On December 18, 2006, he received the Christopher Reeve First Amendment Award.
He has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor five times and won the award twice. In 2003, he won for his role in Clint Eastwood's Boston crime-drama Mystic River. In 2004, he played a disturbed man bent on killing the president in The Assassination of Richard Nixon. He received his fifth nomination and second win for his role as the charismatic and vibrant gay politician Harvey Milk in the 2008 film Milk. He was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2004.
Certainly he is one of Hollywood's most controversial, progressive and gifted actors.