Jon Voight

Jonathan Vincent Voight was born on December 29, 1938, in Yonkers, New York. He developed an interest in acting at a young age and later studied at The Catholic University of America before training at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre under Sanford Meisner. He began working in theater and made his film debut in Fearless Frank.

Voight's major breakthrough came with Midnight Cowboy (1969), in which he played Joe Buck. The performance earned him his first Academy Award nomination and established him as a major film actor. He subsequently appeared in films such as Deliverance (1972) and The Champ (1979).

In Coming Home (1978), Voight portrayed Luke Martin, a paraplegic Vietnam War veteran. His performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor, along with several other major acting honors. He later received further Oscar nominations for Runaway Train (1985) and Ali (2001), in which he portrayed sportscaster Howard Cosell.

Voight continued to work across a wide range of genres. His later film credits include Heat (1995), Mission: Impossible (1996), The Rainmaker (1997), Enemy of the State (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), Holes (2003), National Treasure (2004), Transformers (2007), and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016).

He also became prominent on television. He portrayed Mickey Donovan in the Showtime series Ray Donovan, earning Primetime Emmy nominations and winning a Golden Globe in 2014. His television work also included Uprising, Pope John Paul II, and 24.

Voight has received numerous honors during his career, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, and the National Medal of Arts in 2019. His career has covered more than six decades, making him a notable figure in American film and television.