Academy Award for Best Actor

1987

Michael Douglas 

as

Gordon Gekko 

Wall Street

Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American film producer and actor of stage and screen whose career includes a diverse range of films in both independent and blockbuster films for which he has received a number of accolades both competitive and honorary; these include the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for "outstanding contribution to the world of entertainment" and the AFI Life Achievement Award which "honor[s] an individual whose career in motion pictures or television has greatly contributed to the enrichment of American culture".

The eldest of four children of actor Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas received his B.A. in drama from the University of California. His early acting roles included film, stage and television productions; Douglas first achieved prominence for his co-lead performance opposite Karl Malden in the ABC police procedural television series The Streets of San Francisco, for which Douglas received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations. In 1975, Douglas produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, having acquired the rights to the Ken Kesey novel from his father. The film received critical and popular acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, earning Douglas his first Oscar as one of the film's producers. After leaving The Streets of San Francisco in 1976, Douglas went on to produce films including The China Syndrome (1979) and Romancing the Stone (1984); he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy for the latter, which he also starred in, reintroducing Douglas to audiences as a capable leading man. After reprising his Romancing the Stone role as Jack Colton in the 1985 sequel The Jewel of the Nile (which he also produced) and appearing in the musical A Chorus Line (1985) and the psychological thriller Fatal Attraction (1987), Douglas received widespread acclaim for his iconic portrayal of amoral corporate raider Gordon Gekko in the Oliver Stone-directed drama Wall Street for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He reprises the role in the sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010).

Douglas's subsequent notable film roles included The War of the Roses (1989); Basic Instinct (1992); The American President (1995); The Game (1997); Traffic and Wonder Boys (2000); and Solitary Man (2009). In 2013, Douglas's performance as Liberace in the HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra received universal critical acclaim and the actor won numerous accolades for his role, including Golden Globe, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Apart from his career in the film industry, Douglas has received notice for his humanitarian and political activism as well as media attention for his marriage to Catherine Zeta-Jones and tongue cancer diagnosis.