Biography of Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford is an American actor, pilot, and environmental activist. As of 2019, the U.S. domestic box office grosses of his films total over $5.1 billion. With worldwide grosses surpassing $9.3 billion, placing him at No 4 on the list of highest-grossing domestic box office stars of all time. In addition to his box office success, he is also an Academy Award nominee. A four-time Golden Globe nominee, a two-time Saturn Award winner, and the recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award and the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Following the initial part of his career in bit parts and supporting roles, Ford gained worldwide fame for his starring role as Han Solo in the epic space opera film Star Wars , reprising the role in four sequels over the course of the next 42 years. He is also widely known for his portrayal of Indiana Jones in the titular film franchise, beginning with the action-adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark , and for playing other characters in different franchises, most notably Rick Deckard in the dystopian science fiction films Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 and the Tom Clancy character Jack Ryan in the spy thriller films Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger . His career spans six decades and includes collaborations with some of the most acclaimed and influential filmmakers of all time such as George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, Peter Weir, Roman Polanski and Mike Nichols.

Outside of his franchise roles, Ford has portrayed heroic characters in other films such as the thrillers Witness , The Fugitive , and Air Force One , as well as the historical sports drama 42 . In addition to his heroic roles, he played morally ambiguous and darker characters in films such as the coming-of-age comedy drama American Graffiti , the conspiracy thriller The Conversation , the survival drama The Mosquito Coast , the legal drama Presumed Innocent , and the supernatural suspense thriller What Lies Beneath . Ford has also appeared in several romantic comedies and dramas throughout his career, including Heroes , Working Girl , Sabrina , Six Days, Seven Nights , Random Hearts , Morning Glory , and The Age of Adaline.

Harrison Ford was born at the Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, on July 13, 1942, the son of former radio actress Dorothy and advertising executive and former actor John William "Christopher" Ford. His younger brother, Terence, was born in 1945. His father was a Catholic of German and Irish descent, while his mother was an Ashkenazi Jew and the daughter of Belarusian immigrants from Minsk. When asked in which religion he and his brother were raised, Ford jokingly responded "Democrat" and more seriously stated that they were raised to be "liberals of every stripe". When asked about what influence his Jewish and Irish Catholic ancestry may have had on him, he quipped, "As a man I've always felt Irish, as an actor I've always felt Jewish."

Ford was a Boy Scout, achieving the second-highest rank of Life Scout. He worked at Napowan Adventure Base Scout Camp as a counselor for the Reptile Study merit badge. Because of this, he and director Steven Spielberg later decided to depict the young Indiana Jones as a Life Scout in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade . Ford graduated in 1960 from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois. His voice was the first student voice broadcast on his high school's new radio station, WMTH, and he was its first sportscaster during his senior year. He attended Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin, where he was a philosophy major and a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. A self-described "late bloomer", Ford took a drama class in the final quarter of his senior year to get over his shyness and became fascinated with acting.