Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, musician, producer, and director. He has been nominated for three BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards, won two Oscars and a Golden Globe Award. Costner's roles include Lt. John J. Dunbar in the film Dances with Wolves, Jim Garrison in JFK, Ray Kinsella in Field of Dreams, and Eliot Ness in The Untouchables.

Costner was born in Lynwood, California, the youngest of the three sons (the middle of whom died at birth) of Sharon Rae (née Tedrick), a welfare worker, and William Costner, an electrician and later utilities executive. He has German, Irish and Cherokee ancestry (his Oklahoma-born paternal grandfather was half Cherokee). Costner was raised Baptist. He attended Cabrillo Jr. High School and Buena High in Ventura, California. A poor student, Costner enjoyed sports in spite of his slight stature and took piano lessons, wrote poetry and sang in the First Baptist Choir.

Spending his teenage years in various parts of California as his father's career progressed, Costner lived in Orange County, then in Visalia (Tulare County), attending Mt. Whitney High School, and then back to Orange County, graduating from Villa Park High School in Villa Park, California, in 1973. He went on to earn a B.A. in business from California State University, Fullerton, in 1978. Member of Delta Chi at Cal State.