Coming off the action epic "Waterworld" (which has earned nearly $300 million worldwide), KEVIN COSTNER (Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy) returns to the kind of character comedy that so engaged audiences in his first teaming with Ron Shelton, "Bull Durham."
The producer, director and star of "Dances with Wolves," which earned seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, continues to defy categorization by blending his career choices with equal parts comedy, action and drama.
Prior to "Waterworld," Costner reteamed with Lawrence Kasdan in the historical western "Wyatt Earp." He had previously worked with Kasdan on the gunslinger saga "Silverado" and, early in his career, co-starred in the contemporary comedy-drama "The Big Chill" from which his role was later edited out.
As an action hero, Costner played the title character in "The Bodyguard" which he produced from a script by Kasdan. He also starred as an escaped convict opposite Clint Eastwood in the critically praised drama "A Perfect World" and with Elijah Wood in the Vietnam parable "The War."
His other notable roles in both action and drama genres include New Orleans prosecutor Jim Garrison in Oliver Stone's "JFK," the legendary "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves," the stoic lawman Elliot Ness in Brian De Palma's "The Untouchables" and the enigmatic Pentagon attache in "No Way Out."
After graduating from California State University at Fullerton with a degree in marketing, Costner began his acting career starring in independent films, gradually earning small parts in more mainstream movies ("Night Shift," "Table for Five"). His first major motion picture role came with the Amblin Entertainment production "Fandango."
A natural athlete, Costner has applied those talents prior to "Tin Cup" in the baseball comedy "Bull Durham," the comedy- drama "Field of Dreams" and the bicycle-racing saga "American Flyers."
As a producer, he created and hosted the television documentary "500 Nations," which chronicled the tribal histories of Native American peoples from the earliest signs of life on the continent to the 20th century.
After displaying her comic timing in the recent hit "Get Shorty," RENE RUSSO (Dr. Molly Griswold) continues in that arena as a neophyte psychologist in "Tin Cup."
Earlier in 1995, Russo took on the dramatic role of a medical researcher fighting a catastrophic virus alongside Dustin Hoffman and Morgan Freeman in the box-office hit "Outbreak."
The native Californian began her professional career as a fashion model, discovered by manager John Crosby at a rock concert, and soon rocketed to the top of that profession. She appeared on the cover of every major fashion magazine during the l970s and 1980s, working for The Ford Agency in New York.
Her screen career made a similarly rapid ascent as she turned to acting in 1988, co-starring in the hit comedy "Major League." She followed this with starring roles in "Mr. Destiny," "Freejack" and "One God Cop."
Russo's performance in "Lethal Weapon 3," opposite Mel Gibson, first showed audiences her facility with both action and comedy. Wolfgang Petersen then cast her as the efficient Secret Service agent who teams with Clint Eastwood in "In the Line of Fire."
Russo recently completed a starring role in the suspense thriller "Ransom," directed by Ron Howard, in which she reteams with Mel Gibson. "Ransom" is scheduled for release later this year.
CHEECH MARIN (Romeo Posar) recently appeared in "The Great White Hype" and co-starred in the 1995 Robert Rodriguez films "Desperado" and "Dusk to Dawn."
The former standup comedian starred in a popular series of movies with former comedy partner Tommy Chong before striking out on his own by writing and directing, as well as starring in, "Born in East L.A." inspired by his popular musical parody of the Bruce Springsteen hit song.
Marin who was, in fact, born in South Central Los Angeles and raised in Granada Hills, California, enrolled as an English major at California State University at Northridge. Turning to nightclub comedy, he moved to Vancouver, B.C., where he met Chong as part of the Vancouver City Works improvisational troupe. The team had six best-selling comedy albums and earned six Grammy nominations, winning in 1974 for "The Wedding Album." They made their screen debut in "Cheech & Chong's Up in Smoke," which the stars also wrote.
Marin's other acting credits include Martin Scorsese's "After Hours," "Ghostbusters II," "Rude Awakening," "Troop Beverly Hills," "Fatal Beauty" and "Shrimp on the Barbie." He has been the big screen voice to characters in "The Lion King" and "Oliver & Company."
On television, Marin starred as Pancho to Jimmy Smits' Cisco in "The Cisco Kid." He is currently seen as a series regular on "Nash Bridges," starring with Don Johnson.
DON JOHNSON (David Simms) gained fame on television's "Miami Vice" as detective Sonny Crockett after establishing himself as a leading man in feature films.
Recently Johnson has appeared in the features "Born Yesterday," "Paradise" and "Guilty as Sin." Among his other films since "Miami Vice" are "The Hot Spot," "Dead-Bang" "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" and "Sweet Hearts Dance."
Born in Flatt Creek, Missouri, and educated at the University of Kansas, Johnson studied acting at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. In 1970, he landed his first role in a major movie, playing the title character in "The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart."
Throughout the l970s, Johnson played starring roles in such features as the rock western "Zachariah," the college cult classic "The Harrad Experiment," "Return to Macon County" with Nick Nolte and the futurist fiction fable "A Boy and His Dog."
In the latter part of that decade, through the early years of the next, Johnson divided his efforts between film, television and theatrical productions, including the Sal Mineo-directed L.A. staging of "Fortune and Men's Eyes." In 1984, he re-entered the media spotlight as star of the innovative detective show "Miami Vice."
Johnson has recently turned his talents toward television producing, serving as executive producer of the series "The Marshall." He is also producing and starring in the detective series "Nash Bridges."
LINDA HART (Doreen) recently appeared in "Get Shorty" with Rene Russo and previously appeared in "A Perfect World" with Kevin Costner.
Hart began her career as a singer, recording 14 gospel albums with her Grammy Award-winning family, The Harts, before branching off on her own. She continued singing and dancing as a member of Bette Midler's backup group, The Harlettes, including the "Divine Madness" concert at the Majestic Theatre and "De Tour" at Radio City Music Hall.
On Broadway, Hart earned a Theatre World Award for her performance in the Jerry Zaks-directed "Anything Goes." She also performed in "Sid Caesar on Broadway."
Other feature film appearances include "Stella," "Moon Over Venice" and "The Best of Times," on which she was also music director and choreographer (and where she first met Ron Shelton).
On television, Hart co-starred in the telefilm "Gypsy" and the miniseries "Texas Justice" and "Queen."
DENNIS BURKLEY (Earl) previously appeared in the thriller "No Way Out" with Kevin Costner and has more recently been featured in the comedy "Son in Law" and the action-comedy "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot."
Other feature films in which he has appeared include "Rush," "The Doors," "One Point of View," "An Innocent Man," "Who's That Girl," "Mask," "Murphy's Romance," "The Slugger's Wife" and "Stay Hungry."
LOU MYERS (Clint) made his major film debut in "Cobb" as Willie, the house servant who walks out on the miscreant old ballplayer.
Myers appeared in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television production of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play "The Piano Lesson," having previously appeared in the play on Broadway. He was also featured in the movie-of-the-week "The Richest Cat in the World" for Disney, and has guest-starred in over 30 episodic series.
Best known to television audiences for his role in the hit series "A Different World," Myers' performing career has primarily been on stage and in cabaret throughout the United States and Europe. He made his Broadway debut in the Negro Ensemble Company's production "The First Breeze of Summer." In addition to "The Piano Lesson," he has appeared on Broadway in two other Wilson plays, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and "Fences" with James Earl Jones.
REX LINN (Dewey) most recently co-starred in "Cutthroat Island" and previously appeared with Kevin Costner in "Wyatt Earp."
Linn's other major film credits include "Clear and Present Danger," "Drop Zone," "Cliffhanger," "Iron Will," "Perfect Alibi," "Thunderheart," "Nightgame" and "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys."
