Kevin Kline became established as one of the most versatile and talented stage actors of his generation in the 1970s and 80s. Proving equally at home in musical comedy, contemporary drama and the classics, he has delighted and thrilled New York audiences with his performances. His feature career, despite winning an Oscar, has proven more dicey. Kline has demonstrated his capabilities and invoked comparisons with such diverse screen icons as Errol Flynn and Laurence Olivier, yet he has also acquired a reputation for discretion and selectivity (he is jokingly referred to as 'Kevin Decline'), creating a body of work that, while impressive, has not propelled him to the front ranks of stardom.

A charismatic leading man with rakish dark matinee idol looks, Kline was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri and began acting in school plays. He studied composing and conducting at Indiana University for two years before finally switching to drama. While an undergraduate, Kline co-founded a theater troupe, The Vest Pocket Players, that specialized in topical satirical revues. Upon graduation, he headed to NYC and landed bit roles in the New York Shakespeare Festival productions of "Henry VI, Parts I and II" and "Richard III" before being accepted into the newly established drama division of Juilliard, founded by John Houseman. In 1972, Kline and other members of the first graduating class (including Patti LuPone and David Ogden Stiers) became founding members of The Acting Company. For the next several years, the troupe traveled throughout the USA appearing in works ranging from "The School for Scandal" to "Three Sisters" to "Measure for Measure". Kline made his Broadway debut with The Acting Company in "Scapin" in 1973 and two years later originated his first musical role, Jamie Lockhart, in "The Robber Bridegroom". While understudying Raul Julia's MacHeath in the acclaimed New York Shakespeare Festival revival of "The Threepenny Opera", he was cast in the supporting role of egocentric movie star Bruce Granit in "On the Twentieth Century". Kline's physical agility, comic flourishes and strong singing nearly stole the show and earned him a 1978 Featured Actor Tony Award. He followed with a dramatic turn in Michael Weller's "Loose Ends" (1979), opposite Christine Lahti. In 1980-81, Kline delighted audiences as the swashbuckling Pirate King in an irreverent staging of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance", for which he earned a second Tony Award. He has subsequently distinguished himself in Shakespearean roles ranging from a dastardly "Richard III" (1983) to a dashing "Henry V" (1984) to a sly Benedick in "Much Ado About Nothing" (1988) to two outings as the Melancholy Dane in "Hamlet" (1986 and 1990; he also directed the latter). He co-starred with Raul Julia and Glenne Headley in a revival of Shaw's "Arms and the Man" (1985), directed by John Malkovich and, after a 12-year absences, returned to the Broadway stage in the title role of Chekhov's "Ivanov", adapted by David Hare. The summer of 2001 found him in one of NYC's most sought-after tickets, a Mike Nichols-directed staging of Chekhov's "The Seagull" in which he co-starred with Meryl Streep.

Kline made an impressive screen debut as a charismatic schizophrenic opposite Streep in "Sophie's Choice" (1982). Over the next several decades, he has etched several memorable characters, including the definitive post-radical, young suburban professional in Lawrence Kasdan's "The Big Chill" (1983), a revisionist Western hero in Kasdan's "Silverado" (1985) and an Oscar-winning turn as perhaps the most stupid hit man ever in "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988). Teamed with Sally Field, Kline shone as a second-rate "serious" actor reduced to starring on daytime TV in "Soapdish" (1991) and then offered an effective cameo as Douglas Fairbanks in the 1992 Richard Attenborough-directed biopic, "Chaplin". He proved effective in the dual roles of the US President and his doppleganger in the excellent comedy "Dave" (1993). While "Fierce Creatures" (1997) reunited Kline with his "Fish Called Wanda" co-stars and offered another chance to play dual characters, an Australian media baron and his scheming American son, the film was uneven and lacked the comic spark that made "Wanda" a success. Kline fared better as a Midwestern high school teacher who is "outed" as gay by a former student accepting a movie award in the box-office hit "In & Out" and as a cheating husband facing the changing times in 1973 in the superlative drama "The Ice Storm" (both 1997). Through the vagaries of working in film, the actor managed to have high profile roles in two major 1999 releases. In Michael Hoffman's restaging of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", Kline very nearly stole the film as the comical Bottom, while in Barry Sonnenfeld's version of the 60s TV series "Wild Wild West", he stepped into the late Ross Martin's shoes as the master of disguise Artemus Gordon alongside Will Smith (as Jim West) but was overshadowed by the overblown production values and done in by the poor script. 2001 once again saw Kline in two different projects: in "The Anniversary Party", he played a slightly hammy, aging actor married to a former actress, while in "Life as a House", the actor offered an excellent performance as a dying man struggling to reach his disaffected teenage son. In 2002, Kline had a small but meaningful role in the surprise comedy hit "Orange County" and starred as a professor in the feature drama "The Emperor's Club," a variation on the "Dead Poets Society" formula. He turned in an extremely winning performance as the elegant, complicated songwriter Cole Porter in the biopic "De-Lovely" (2004), which focused on the bisexual composer's relationship with his devoted wife and muse (Ashley Judd).

Despite these fine portrayals, there has been something curiously lacking in Kline's film career. On stage, he can be dynamic and fluid, while on screen he sometimes appears muted and constrained (e.g., "The January Man" 1989; "Consenting Adults" 1992). While demonstrating a facility with comic accents (i.e., Kasdan's "I Love You to Death" 1990 and "French Kiss" 1995), the overall effect calls attention to itself. With few exceptions (notably Meryl Streep in "Sophie's Choice" and Sigourney Weaver in both "Dave" and "The Ice Storm"), Kline does not strike romantic sparks with his leading ladies in the way he has on stage. In fact, one of his best romantic roles was as Pheobus in Disney's animated "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996).

from movies.yahoo.com

  The Great Buck Howard (2006) (pre-production)
Welcome to America (2006) (filming) .... Ray
A Prairie Home Companion (2006) (post-production) .... Guy Noir
As You Like It (2006) (post-production) .... Jaques
The Pink Panther (2006) (completed) .... Chief Inspector Dreyfus

De-Lovely (2004) .... Cole Porter
The Emperor's Club (2002) .... William Hundert
The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002) (V) (voice) .... Phoebus
Orange County (2002) (uncredited) .... Marcus Skinner
Life as a House (2001) .... George Monroe
The Anniversary Party (2001) .... Cal Gold
The Road to El Dorado (2000) (voice) .... Tulio

Wild Wild West (1999) .... U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999/I) .... Nick Bottom
... aka Sogno di una notte di mezza estate (Italy)
... aka William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (USA: complete title)
In & Out (1997) .... Howard Brackett
The Ice Storm (1997) .... Ben Hood
Fierce Creatures (1997) .... Vince McCain/Rod McCain
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) (voice) .... Phoebus
French Kiss (1995) .... Luc Teyssier
... aka Paris Match
Princess Caraboo (1994) .... Frixos
The Nutcracker (1993) (voice) .... Narrator
... aka George Balanchine's The Nutcracker (USA: complete title)
Dave (1993) .... Dave Kovic/Bill Mitchell
Chaplin (1992) .... Douglas Fairbanks
... aka Charlot (Italy)
Consenting Adults (1992) .... Richard Parker
Grand Canyon (1991) .... Mack
Merlin and the Dragons (1991) (TV) (voice) .... Narrator
Soapdish (1991) .... Jeffrey Anderson/Dr. Rod Randall
I Love You to Death (1990) .... Joey Boca
Hamlet (1990/II) (TV) .... Hamlet

January Man (1989) .... Nick Starkey
... aka The January Man (USA: poster title)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988) .... Otto
Cry Freedom (1987) .... Donald Woods
Violets Are Blue... (1986) .... Henry Squires
Silverado (1985) .... Paden
The Big Chill (1983) .... Harold
The Pirates of Penzance (1983) .... The Pirate King
... aka The Slave of Duty (UK: subtitle)
Sophie's Choice (1982) .... Nathan Landau
The Pirates of Penzance (1980) (TV) .... The Pirate King

"Search for Tomorrow" (1951) TV Series .... Woody Reed (1976)
The Time of Your Life (1976) (TV) .... McCarthy