There isn’t a single place in Oklahoma that doesn’t have breathtaking scenery. It has a diverse landscape, consisting of everything from rolling hills and boundless plains to stunning mountains and lush forests, not to mention, everything in between!
Everyone will find at least one item in this place that they adore. But what some don’t know is that many of their favorite movie stars were born right here in Oklahoma. Below we list the top A-Listers who are OK with us!
Ron Howard
Born in Duncan, OK on March 1, 1954
One of the most well-respected filmmakers of our era is Academy Award winner Ron Howard. He has directed some of Hollywood’s most enduring movies, including the highly acclaimed dramas A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Apollo 13 (1995), as well as the blockbuster comedy Parenthood (1989) and Splash (1983).
In 1978, Howard made his feature film debut as a director with the comedy Grand Theft Auto (1977). He started out in the movie industry as an actor. He initially made an appearance in The Journey (1959) and The Music Man (1962), after which he played Opie on The Andy Griffith Show, a popular television series (1960). After appearing in Happy Days (1974), Howard gained recognition for his roles in American Graffiti (1973) and The Shootist (1976).
The successful comedies ‘Night Shift’ and ‘Splash’ marked the beginning of Howard’s partnership with longtime producing partner Brian Grazer. For the purpose of making independently produced feature films, the two co-founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986.
Some of the most watched and loved movies over the last 20 years are in Howard’s filmography. Backdraft, a critically praised drama starring Robert De Niro, Kurt Russell, and William Baldwin, was produced by Howard in 1991. After that, he directed the Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman-starring historical epic Far and Away (1992). Ransom, a 1996 suspense thriller starring Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise, and Delroy Lindo, was directed by Howard (1996). On the newly re-released ‘Apollo 13’ in IMAX, Howard collaborated with Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, and Kathleen Quinlan.
Recent works by Howard include the highly praised thriller Rush (2013), starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl, and the music documentary Made in America (2013), which he directed for Showtime and included Jay-Z.
In addition to In the Heart of the Sea (2015), which is based on the true story that gave rise to Moby Dick, Howard is also known for his adaptations of Dan Brown’s best-selling books Angels & Demons (2009) and The Da Vinci Code (2006), which starred Oscar winner Tom Hanks; the holiday classic ‘Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)’ with Jim Carrey; ‘Parenthood’ with Steve Martin; the fantasy epic Willow (1988);
Inferno (2016), the third entry in Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series, and The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years (2016), a documentary on the rock band The Beatles, were both recently directed by Howard. For NatGeo, he also produced the second season of Breakthrough (2015), Mars (2016), and the first episode of the Albert Einstein biopic Genius (2017).
Source: Ron Howard Biography – IMDB
Brad Pitt
Born in Shawnee, OK on December 18, 1963
William Bradley ‘Brad’ Pitt was born in Shawnee and reared in Springfield, Missouri by his parents, William Alvin ‘Bill’ Pitt, a truck business manager, and Jane Etta Pitt (née Hillhouse), a school counselor. Pitt participated in student government, school musicals, debate, athletics, and other activities at Kickapoo High School. Pitt studied journalism with an emphasis on advertising at the University of Missouri. On occasion, he performed in fraternity plays. He dropped out of college with two credits remaining in order to relocate to California. Pitt worked as a huge chicken for El Pollo Loco while dressed as a stripper while driving limousines, moving refrigerators, and supporting himself before he was a famous actor.
Before playing the recurrent character of Randy on the renowned prime time soap opera Dallas, Pitt’s first credited performances were all on television, beginning with the daytime soap opera Another World (1964). (1978). Pitt earned significant recognition with a brief role in Thelma & Louise (1991), when he portrayed a beautiful crook who courted and defrauded Geena Davis, after a succession of guest roles on numerous television programs during the 1980s. This resulted in him landing leading parts in critically panned movies like Johnny Suede (1991) and Cool World (1992).
Pitt’s career, however, took off once he was chosen for A River Runs Through It (1992), which solidified his reputation as a multi-faceted actor rather than simply a gorgeous face. Pitt’s subsequent roles were as eccentric and diverse in tone as his performances, from his unforgettable comic cameo as stoner roommate Floyd in True Romance (1993) to romantic parts in visually stunning movies like Legends of the Fall (1994) and Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), to an emotionally tormented detective in the horror-thriller Se7en (1994). (1995). He was awarded the Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in 1995 for his depiction of the frantic eccentric Jeffrey Goines in the film 12 Monkeys.
Pitt’s depiction of Achilles in the high-budget historical drama Troy (2004) contributed to the development of his appeal as an action hero. Mr. & Mrs. Smith, a sophisticated spy-versus-spy movie in which he again costarred, came out shortly after (2005). Pitt and Angelina Jolie first met on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Pitt later wed Jennifer Aniston in a well-publicized wedding there in 2000. After Pitt dumped Aniston for Jolie in 2005, tabloid rumors about the split have persisted ever since.
He keeps choosing films that are dramatically different, from high-concept popcorn movies like Megamind (2010) to daring critic-bait movies like Inglourious Basterds (2009) and The Tree of Life (2011). He has been nominated for two Best Actor Oscars, for Moneyball and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). (2011). He co-starred with Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Jon Bernthal, and Michael Pea in the 2014 war movie Fury.
Source: Brad Pitt Biography – IMDB
Bill Hader
Born in Tulsa, OK on June 7, 1978
Actor, comedian, director, and impersonator Bill Hader hails from the Tulsa area. Barry is an HBO dark comedy series that he created, produced, wrote, directed, and stars in. Barry has had eight Emmy Award nominations and two wins.
Hader first achieved fame during his eight-year career, begging in 2005, as a cast member of the venerable NBC variety program Saturday Night Live, for which he won four Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a Peabody Award. His work on the Weekend Update segments, in which he portrayed Stefon Meyers, a flamboyant New York tour guide who suggests peculiar nightclubs and parties with peculiar people who have peculiar preferences, is particularly notable for having made him famous for his impressions. Along with Fred Armisen and Seth Meyers, he co-created the IFC mockumentary comedy series Documentary Now! (2015-present), which he also stars in and produces.
Hader has starred in The Skeleton Twins (2014), Trainwreck (2015), and as an adult Richie Tozier in It Chapter Two. He has also appeared in supporting roles in the movies Hot Rod (2007), Superbad (2007), Tropic Thunder (2008), Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), Adventureland (both 2009), Paul (2011), Men in Black 3 (2012), and Maggie’s Plan (2015). (2019).
He is also well-known for his extensive work in animation, which includes the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs series (2009–2013), Turbo (2013), Monsters University (2013), Inside Out (2015), Finding Dory (2016), The Angry Birds Movie (2016) and its follow-up (2019), Sausage Party (2016), Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018), and The Addams Family 2 (both of which he voiced both the lead and supporting characters in) (2021).
Beginning with the 12th season of the animated series, South Park, Hader served as a producer and creative consultant. Given that he and Matt Stone had become friends, Hader became involved in the series and started attending writers’ retreats with the cast. To get an understanding of narrative structure, he started working on the software. Hader is one of the showrunners that took home the Best Animated Series Emmy in 2009. Additionally, he made an appearance on the commentary track for South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut’s 2009 Blu-ray release as well as the Comedy Central documentary 6 Days to Air, which was shot during the making of the 2011 South Park episode ‘HumancentiPad’ For the 17th season of South Park, Hader returned to the writing crew.
Hader’s involvement on Saturday Night Live earned him a Peabody Award in Political Satire in 2008. Additionally, he voiced a variety of characters in the second season of the Adult Swim animated series Xavier: Renegade Angel and had an appearance on the MTV prank show Punk’d. Along with SNL writer Liz Cackowski and his then-wife Maggie Carey, he also produced a number of short films, such as Back in the Day, Sounds Good to Me: Remastering the Sting, and The Jeannie Tate Show.
Source: Bill Hader Biography – Wikipedia
Chuck Norris
Born in Ryan, OK on March 10, 1940
As the hero of action movies like The Hitman (1991), The Delta Force (1986), and Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection (1990), Chuck Norris is well-known to fans everywhere. He also acted in the 1984 film Missing in Action and its 1986 and 1986 follow-ups, Firewalker and Sidekicks (1992). Along with being the lead of Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), he served as an executive producer.
Ray Norris, a truck driver, mechanic, and bus driver, and his wife Wilma (Scarberry) welcomed Chuck Norris into the world in Ryan, Oklahoma. He assisted his mother in raising his two younger brothers as the oldest of three children in Torrance, California, where his family relocated when he was 12 years old. From the school’s opening in September 1955 until his graduation in June 1958, Norris attended North Torrance High School. He is one of the school’s many illustrious former students. Other NHS alums include hip-hop DJ ‘Key-Kool’ (Kikuo Nishi), professional baseball player Chris Demaria (who played for the Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers), ESPN commentator Chris Mortensen, and Wee-Man (Jason Acuna), who is most known for his role on ‘JackAss.’
When Norris finished high school, he enlisted in the Air Force. He started learning the Asian martial art of Tang Soo Do while living in Korea. As soon as he got back home, he started working for Northrop Aviation and teaching karate part-time. Two years later, he had many martial arts schools under his management and was teaching full-time. Steve McQueen, Priscilla Presley, and the Osmonds were among his pupils.
Norris fought professionally from 1964 until 1974. Norris initially struggled, losing his first three competitions, but by 1966, he was almost untouchable. He won a plethora of championships, including the National Karate Championships in 1966, the All-Star Championships in 1966, the World Middleweight Karate Championship in 1967, the All-American Karate Championship in 1967, the Internationals in 1968, the World Professional Middleweight Karate Championship (by defeating Louis Delgado on November 24, 1968), the All-American Championship in 1968, the National Tournament of Champions in 1968, the American Tang Soo Championship, and the North American Karate Championship. With victories against champions Joe Lewis, Skipper Mullins, Arnold Urquidez, Ronald L. Marchini, Victor Moore, Louis Delgado, and Steve Sanders, Norris had a fight record of 65-5. Three of the five opponents that defeated Norris were Allen Steen, Joe Lewis, and Norris’s last opponent in his career, Louis Delgado in 1968. In 1974, Norris announced his retirement as the Professional Full-Contact Middleweight Champion.
Norris successfully combines his martial arts training into his television series and feature picture ventures, emphasizing action and technique over violence. Norris was encouraged to pursue acting by his buddy Steve McQueen. The Secret of Inner Strength and The Secret Power Within – Zen Solutions to Real Problems are both written by him. He works with a number of charitable organizations, such as the Make-a-Wish Foundation, the Funds for Kids, the Veterans Administration National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans, the United Way, and KickStart, a charity he founded to combat drug use and violence in schools. Additionally, he appeared in the 1993 CBS television film Blood In, Blood Out.
Source: Chuck Norris Biography – IMDB
James Garner
Born in Norman, OK on April 7, 1928
Handsome and charming with his endearing anti-hero/con-man image that he first honed in Maverick, the quirky western TV series that catapulted him to fame in the late 1950s, James Garner had found success in both cinema and television. He often played variants of this character.
James Scott Bumgarner, the son of carpet layer Weldon Warren Bumgarner and Mildred Scott (Meek), was born in Norman, Oklahoma. At age 16, he left high school to enlist in the Merchant Marines. He had a range of vocations and was awarded two Purple Hearts after suffering two wounds during the Korean War. His first acting opportunity came when a friend secured him a silent part in the Broadway production of ‘The Caine Mutiny Court Martial (1954)’. He started to master the skill of acting by reading lines to the primary actors as part of his job. A deal with Warner Brothers followed tiny television parts, television advertisements, and this play. When Garner starred in The Girl He Left Behind, director David Butler recognized something in him and gave him all the attention he required (1956). Warner Brothers handed Garner a co-starring position in the western series Maverick after having him co-star in a few movies in 1956–1957. (1957). The program swiftly changed into the Bret Maverick Show from its original concept to rotate between Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) and Bret Maverick (Garner). Garner was Maverick, a calm, likeable character who was always prepared to use his wits to get himself into or out of trouble. The show was very popular, and Garner stayed on until 1960 before quitting over a financial issue.
Early in the 1960s, Garner made a comeback to acting, often taking on roles similar to those he had on ‘Maverick’ The Thrill of It All (1963), Move Over, Darling (1963), The Great Escape (1963), and The Americanization of Emily (1963) were among his notable successes (1964). After that, his career took a detour, but when he made an appearance in the 1966 car-racing film Grand Prix, he caught the racing bug. This dream soon evolved into backing a racing team, much as Paul Newman did in later years.
Support Your Local Sheriff, a western comedy starring Garner, was a huge hit (1969). Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), his attempt to replicate his achievement, fell short of the original film’s caliber. Garner made his way back to television after an absence of 11 years in a part like that in Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969). He portrayed the sheriff on the Nichols (1971) television series, who tried to settle every issue with his intellect rather than lethal force. Garner shot Nichols to death after learning that the program would not be renewed, and he would never appear in a follow-up. In the iconic television series The Rockford Files, he received the part for which he would likely be most known in 1974 as droll private detective Jim Rockford (1974). Together with Stuart Margolin and Noah Beery Jr., this became his second big television success, and for his performance in it, he was awarded an Emmy in 1977. But after suffering a series of wounds and learning that Universal Pictures’ ‘creative bookkeeping’ would deny him any of the enormous earnings the program brought him, he quickly lost his temper, and the show was cancelled in 1980. Although Garner didn’t appear in many movies in the 1980s, the ones he did were darker than the Garner of old. Tank (1984) and Murphy’s Romance were among them (1985). He received both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe nomination for the latter. Returning to the western genre, he appeared in Sunset (1988), a mythological tale of Wyatt Earp, Tom Mix, and 1920s Hollywood, with the young Bruce Willis.
Garner won accolades for his performance in the famous television film exposing corporate greed, Barbarians at the Gate, in the 1990s (1993). After that, he costarred with Mel Gibson in Maverick (1994), a theatrical adaptation of his former television series. After that, he mostly appeared in a number of TV movies based on The Rockford Files (1974). His most recent movies are Space Cowboys and My Fellow Americans (both from 1996). (2000).
Source: James Garner Biography – IMDB
