Robert Redford

Robert Redford Jr. is a retired actor, director, producer, and businessman. He is the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, and as an avid environmentalist, a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Redford began acting on television in the late 1950s, including an appearance on the “Twilight Zone” on January 5, 1962. He earned an Emmy nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Voice of Charlie Pont (1962). His greatest Broadway success was as the stuffy newlywed husband of co-star Elizabeth Ashley's character in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park (1963).

Redford made his film debut in War Hunt (1962). His role in Inside Daisy Clover (1965) won him a Golden Globe for best new star. He starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), which was a huge success and made him a major star. He had a critical and box office hit with Jeremiah Johnson (1972), and in 1973 he had the greatest hit of his career, the blockbuster crime caper The Sting, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. The popular and acclaimed All the President's Men (1976) was a landmark film for Redford.

In the 1980s, Redford began as a director with Ordinary People (1980), which was one of the most critically and publicly acclaimed films of the decade, winning four Oscars including Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Director for Redford. He continued acting and starred in Brubaker (1980), as well as playing the male lead in Out of Africa (1985), which was an enormous box office success and won seven Oscars including Best Picture. He released his third film as a director, A River Runs Through It, in 1992.

He went on to receive Best Director and Best Picture nominations in 1995 for Quiz Show. He received a second Academy Award—for Lifetime Achievement—in 2002. In 2010, he was made a chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur. He has won BAFTA, Directors Guild of America, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards.

In April 2014, Time magazine included Redford in their annual Time 100 as one of the "Most Influential People in the World", declaring him the "Godfather of Indie Film". In 2016, Redford was honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Redford retired from acting after completing the film The Old Man & the Gun, which was released in October 2018.