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| Birth Name(s) : Richard Gere |
Date of Birth: August 31, 1949 |
| Status:
Dating
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Partner:
Carey Lowell |
| Profession:
Actor |
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Full Richard Gere Biography
Richard Gere dropped out of university to pursue acting and has since established himself as both superstar and humanitarian. As a Buddhist for over 10 years, he has also been prominent in charity events and fundraisers such as Survival International.
Lead roles in "American Gigolo" (1980) and "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982) started a career that sky-rocketed after co-starring with Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman" (1990). Other feature film titles include "First Knight" (1995), "Primal Fear" (1996) and "Runaway Bride" (1999). |
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Additional Richard Gere Biography
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gere is a descendant of Mayflower Pilgrims Francis Eaton, John Billington, George Soule, Richard Warren, Degory Priest, William Brewster and Francis Cooke. Gere's mother, Doris Anna (née Tiffany), was a homemaker, and his father, Homer George Gere, was an insurance agent for the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company and had originally intended to become a minister. Gere has three sisters and a brother. In 1967, he graduated from North Syracuse Central High School, where he excelled at gymnastics and music, playing the trumpet. He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst on a gymnastics scholarship, majoring in Philosophy, but did not graduate, leaving after two years to pursue acting.
People magazine named Gere the "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1999. In 2002, he appeared in three major releases: the horror thriller The Mothman Prophecies, the drama Unfaithful, and the Academy Award-winning film version of Chicago, for which he won a Golden Globe as "Best Actor - Comedy or Musical". Gere's 2004 ballroom dancing drama, Shall We Dance, was also a solid performer, although his next film, Bee Season, failed to find an audience amid the Oscar-contenders of November 2005.
Gere was Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals' "Man of the Year" for 2006. In July 2006, he was cast opposite Jesse Eisenberg and Terrence Howard in The Hunting Party, a comic thriller in which he played a journalist in Bosnia; the film was released in September of 2007.
Gere was married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. In 2002, he married actress Carey Lowell. They have a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, who was born in 2000 and is named after Gere's father.
Gere was raised by Methodist parents; his interest in Buddhism began when he travelled to Nepal in 1978 with the Brazilian painter, Sylvia Martins. He is a practicing Buddhist and an active supporter of the Dalai Lama. Gere is also a persistent advocate for human rights in Tibet; he is a co-founder of the Tibet House, creator of The Gere Foundation, and he is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the International Campaign for Tibet. Because he strongly supports the Tibetan Independence Movement, he is permanently banned from entering The People's Republic of China. Gere was banned as an Academy Award presenter in 1993 after he used the opportunity to condemn the Chinese government. In September 2007, Gere called for the boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to put pressure on China to make Tibet independent.
Gere campaigns for ecological causes and AIDS awareness. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Healing the Divide, an organization that supports global initiatives to promote peace, justice and understanding, and he also actively supports Survival International, an organization dedicated to protecting the rights and lands of tribal peoples throughout the world. He helped to establish the AIDS Care Home, a residential facility in India for women and children with AIDS, and also supports campaigns for AIDS awareness and education that country. In 1999 he created the Gere Foundation India Trust to support a variety of humanitarian programs in India.Gere and Shilpa Shetty in the controversial kissing incident in 2007
During an AIDS-awareness event in New Delhi in April 2007, Gere kissed Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty on the neck and cheeks several times, rousing angry protests in India. Gere has apologized to the actress several times since the incident, stating : "My clumsy attempt at a 'Shall We Dance' move was a naive misread of Indian customs, and I assure you nothing more." On 26 April 2007 a district court in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, issued a warrant for Gere's arrest. A week later the judge issuing the warrant, Judge Dinesh Gupta, was transferred from the Jaipur court to the town of Kishangarh. On May 16 the Supreme Court of India suspended all legal proceedings as it debated on the proper jurisdiction for the case. |
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