34 Dreamy Throwback Photos of Kevin Costner Through the Years
Yellowstone's leading man has been a heartbreaker for decades.
In 1987, Kevin Costner was already was in several career-making movies like Silverado, The Untouchables and No Way Out. By all accounts, he was a star. But he insisted otherwise. “I’m not a movie star. I’m an actor,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “You want to see a movie star, go talk to Sean Connery or Robert De Niro or Gene Hackman.”
In his four-decade career, Costner would continue to live by that mantra picking roles in films and TV shows that began with a great story. (Think Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, JFK, Tin Cup, Dances With Wolves, Hidden Figures, The Upside of Anger, Yellowstone, The Highwaymen and on and on.) He even co-founded the app HearHere that tells stories about the locales people are visiting as they travel there. “I love stories,” he writes on the app’s website. “I am the guy that stops at the historical markers along the highway, usually bringing moans from everyone in the car.”
Related: Everything You Need to Know About Yellowstone Season 5
A winner of two Oscars, two Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy, Costner has thrived an as actor, director and producer. Throughout his eclectic ride in Hollywood, he has paid homage to the wild frontier in many Westerns including Wyatt Earp, Dances With Wolves, Open Range and Yellowstone. He even explores the West as a singer/songwriter with his country-rock band, Modern West.
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Costner has been enchanted by Westerns since he was young. When he was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum at the Cowboy Hall of Fame, he recounted his feeling when, at age 7, he saw How the West Was Won at the famous Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. “I never moved. I was too small for my seat, and my feet must have stuck straight out, because I know they never hit the floor,” he shared in a moving speech.
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“The music was playing before the curtain opened, and when it did, it was like God spoke to me and the scales came off my eyes. I never left my seat, refusing to leave even at intermission,” he told the crowd. “Candy and Coke, they were just not important. I wasn’t gonna miss a thing. And if you think my own pictures run long, then you can blame it on that day.”
As we fondly recall his 40-year career, take a trip down memory lane with these throwback photos of Kevin Costner through the years.
Next, Kevin Costner Opens Up About Yellowstone, Westerns, His Tough Childhood and More
Kevin Costner's yearbook photo from Villa Park High School in Orange County, California. He played on the baseball and basketball team.
Kevin Costner promotes the film The Postman at The Hotel Ritz In Paris.
Gearing up for the release of the film Bull Durham Costner did this 1985 photo shoot in Los Angeles, California. Playing minor league catcher Crash Davis, Costner's chemistry with Annie, the team's super fan, was electric.
In addition to acting and directing, Costner is an an expert on technology that separates water from oil. He and his daughter, Annie Costner, listen to BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward testify before the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee on the role of BP in the deepwater horizon explosion and oil spill.
Danny Glover, Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner on the set of Silverado, written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan.
Kevin Costner in Kingwood, Texas
Kevin Costner in a scene from the 1991 film JFK.
Kevin Costner in London. In 1990, he would release Dances With Wolves, which he produced, directed, and acted in. The film won the Oscar for Best Picture and he also won Best Director.
Kevin Costner during the steamy political thriller No Way Out where he starred opposite Gene Hackman, Will Patton and Sean Young.
Kevin Costner at the Big 3 Records Monte Carlo Invitational Pro-Celebrity Golf Tournament in Monaco.
Kevin Costner rows his canoe around the lake at his Aspen home.
Kevin Costner performs with band Modern West during Muhammad Ali's Celebrity Fight Night XVII at JW Marriot Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix, March, 2011.
Kevin Costner poses for photos prior to the screening of the film Black Or White at the Kerasotes Showplace Icon Theatres in Chicago, 2015.
Kevin Costner wins Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director for Dances with Wolves.
Kevin Costner, circa 1990. In 1990 he released the three-hour epic frontier drama Dances With Wolves.
Kevin Costner, wife Christine Baumgartner and their children Grace, Hayes and Cayden arrive at the premiere of The Art Of Racing In The Rain"at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner arrive at The Company Men screening at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.
Kevin Costner with his children, then fiancee Christine Baumgarten, and his parents at the ceremony honoring him on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Kevin Costner and older daughters Annie and Lily during the premiere of Play it to the Bone in Hollywood at the El Captain Theatre.
Kevin Costner with actor, director and producer Clint Eastwood on the set of Eastwood's film A Perfect World.
Kevin Costner and David Grant biking in a scene from the 1985 film American Flyers.
Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid during the 1994 ShoWest awards in Las Vegas.
Kevin Costner and his children Lily, Annie and Joe at the premiere of the film Waterworld.
Kevin Costner and his daughter Lily Costner during The 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards who was Miss. Golden Globe that year handing out the awards. The honor is usually bestowed to a child of a celebrity.
Kevin Costner, Micheline Connery, Jason Connery and Sean Connery
at the BAFTA Tribute to Sean Connery, 1990.
On the set of The Untouchables with Sean Connery and director Brian De Palma.
Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon in a scene from the 1988 film Bull Durham.
Recording Artists Smokey Robinson, Darius Rucker and Kevin Costner at the CMT Artists of the Year speical, 2010 in Franklin, Tennessee.
Kevin Costner in Los Angeles, California, 1995, the year he released Waterworld.
Kevin Costner with honoree Taylor Swift at the 2010 CMT Artists of the Year at The Factory in Franklin, Tennessee.
Kevin Costner played Federal Treasury Agent Eliot Ness battling Al Caone's mob during prohibition Chicago in The Untouchables
Kevin Costner and daughter Lily on the deck of his Aspen home in 2003.
Evan Rachel Wood and Kevin Costner at the premiere of The Upside of Anger in March, 2005 in Los Angeles, California.
Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner during the Hollywood premiere of Open Range at Arclight Cinemas.