Harrison Ford

One of the highest-paid and best-known leading men in American movies, Harrison Ford has put his mark on two great franchises: the first Star Wars trilogy and the Indiana Jones series. Born July 13, 1942, in Chicago, Ill., Ford flunked out of college and went to Hollywood, where he played small roles in a succession of small movies.

George Lucas cast him in American Graffiti (1973), but it wasn't until the unlikely box office hit Star Wars (1977) that he quit his day job as a carpenter. Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) established him firmly as the thinking person's action hero, a position he stayed with through the Star Wars and Indiana Jones sequels.

Other memorable performances include Blade Runner (1982), Witness (1985) -- which earned him a Best Actor nomination -- Working Girl (1988), Presumed Innocent (1990), The Fugitive (1993) and What Lies Beneath (2000).

Filmography