Jon Voight

Jon Voight is an American actor whose career has included major work in film, television, and theatre since the 1960s. He was born Jonathan Paul Voight on 29 December 1938 in Yonkers, New York. Raised in a Catholic family, he attended Archbishop Stepinac High School, studied art at the Catholic University of America, and later trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York under Sanford Meisner.

Voight began on stage and television before breaking through in film. He made his Broadway debut in The Sound of Music and appeared in television series such as Gunsmoke, Naked City, and The Defenders. His film career changed decisively with Midnight Cowboy in 1969, in which he played Joe Buck opposite Dustin Hoffman. The film became a landmark of New Hollywood cinema, won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and earned Voight his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

In the 1970s, Voight became one of the era's prominent American actors. He starred in Deliverance as Ed Gentry, played a paraplegic Vietnam veteran in Coming Home, and appeared in The Champ. Coming Home brought him the Academy Award for Best Actor and a Golden Globe, while Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance, and The Champ confirmed his standing as a leading dramatic performer. He continued to take challenging roles in the 1980s, including the escaped convict Oscar “Manny” Manheim in Runaway Train, which earned another Oscar nomination.

Voight remained active in mainstream and character roles during the 1990s and 2000s. His credits include Heat, Mission: Impossible, Anaconda, The Rainmaker, Enemy of the State, Varsity Blues, Pearl Harbor, Zoolander, Ali, Holes, National Treasure, Glory Road, Transformers, and National Treasure: Book of Secrets. He received a further Academy Award nomination for portraying sportscaster Howard Cosell in Ali.