Michael Keaton
Birthdate: Sep 5, 1951
Birthplace: Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, USA
Many actors have evolved from specializing in comedy to acclaim for dramatic performances, but few in his generation have accomplished it with a more distinctive touch than Michael Keaton (birthname: Michael John Douglas). In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he reached a stratosphere of global fame for the outlandish title character in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice (1988) and again with Burton in Batman (1989), and in Batman Returns (1992) as Batman/Bruce Wayne.
Michael Keaton has arguably never matched this double-play, but in between his two blockbusters, he first suggested his dramatic range in Clean and Sober (1988). Keaton’s attempts to expand beyond his identifiable brand as a dynamic, physical comic actor finally made a real impact in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown (1997), as FBI agent Ray Nicolette (which Keaton revived a year later in Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight (1998)). Despite prestigious turns in projects with such masters as Don DeLillo (Game 6 (2005), Keaton’s only major box-office hits were such animated features as Cars (2006) and Toy Story 3 (2010), in which he did voice work.
A new phase of Michael Keaton’s career happened in 2014, with his lauded performance as Riggan, a struggling veteran actor in Birdman (2014), for which Keaton was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. Keaton starred in back-to-back Best Picture Oscar winners, Birdman and Spotlight (2015), further solidifying his dramatic credentials. Other vehicles designed to cash in on Keaton’s Oscar cache—most prominently his portrayal of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, in The Founder (2016)—were box-office duds.
Yet Keaton has cleverly jumped on the superhero bandwagon (one which he helped launch in the late ‘80s) in roles in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Morbius (2022), and reviving his Batman/Bruce Wayne in both The Flash (2022) and Batgirl (2022). His most recent prestige assignments involved portraying real-life figure Ramsay Clark in Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) and as a troubled doctor in Hulu’s streaming limited series, Dopesick (2021).
Michael Keaton was the director and star of the crime thriller, Knox Goes Away (2023), co-starring Al Pacino, Marcia Gay Harden, James Marsden, Suzy Nakamura, and Joanna Kulig, was released to minuscule ($0.65 million) returns for distributors Saban Films and FilmNation Entertainment after premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.
Keaton revived his vivid character of Betelgeuse (aka Beetlejuice) for his reunion with director Tim Burton for the sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024), co-starring Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe, and which premiered at the Venice Film Festival before a wide release by Warner Bros.
Keaton starred in the title role in director/writer Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s contemporary Los Angeles comedy, Goodrich (2024), co-starring Mila Kunis, Andie MacDowell, Carmen Ejogo, and Kevin Pollak, and released by Ketchup Entertainment.
Personal Details
Michael Keaton was born in 1951 to Leona Elizabeth Loftus and George Alexander Douglas, in Kennedy Township, Pennsylvania. He has six siblings, three brothers, and three sisters. He attended Kent State University from 1969 to 1971, where he studied Speech, and dropped out in 1971. Keaton married Caroline McWilliams in 1982.
The couple divorced in 1990. They had one child, composer Sean Douglas. Keaton had a relationship with Courteney Cox from 1989 to 1995. He owns a ranch near Big Timber, Montana. Keaton’s reported net worth is $40 million.* Keaton’s height is 5’ 10’’.
Filmography
actor
Previous (20)
- 2024 |
- 2024 | Beetlejuice BeetlejuiceasBeetlejuice
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Af...
- 2024 | Knox Goes AwayasJohn 'Aristotle' Knox
Knox Goes Away
When a contract killer has a rapidly evolving form of dementia, he is offered an opportunity to redeem himself by saving the life of his estranged adult son.
- 2023 |
- 2022 |
- 2021 | The ProtegeasRembrandt
The Protege
Rescued as a child by the legendary assassin Moody, Anna is the world's most skilled contract killer. However, when Moody is brutally killed, she vows revenge for the man who taught her everything she knows.
- 2021 | The AssetasRembrandt
The Asset
This pic follows Anna (Maggie Q) and Rembrandt (Keaton) - two of the world's premiere assassins who share a mysterious past from Vietnam. For years, they traversed the globe competing for high profile contracts. But when Anna's mentor Moody (Jackson) is murdered, she and Rembrandt must form an uneasy alliance and return to Vietnam to track down his killer.
- 2019 | Batman Returns: 2019 Re-releaseasBatman/Bruce Wayne
Batman Returns: 2019 Re-release
While Batman deals with a deformed man calling himself the Penguin wreaking havoc across Gotham with the help of a cruel businessman, a female employee of the latter becomes the Catwoman with her own vendetta.
- 2019 | Batman: 2019 Re-releaseasBatman/Bruce Wayne
Batman: 2019 Re-release
The Dark Knight of Gotham City begins his war on crime with his first major enemy being Jack Napier, a criminal who becomes the clownishly homicidal Joker.
- 2019 |
- 2017 | American AssassinasStan Hurley
American Assassin
After the death of his girlfriend at the hands of terrorists, Mitch Rapp is drawn into the world of counterterrorism, mentored by tough-as-nails former U.S. Navy S.E.A.L. Stan Hurley.
- 2017 | Spider-Man: HomecomingasAdrian Toomes
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Peter Parker balances his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens with his superhero alter-ego Spider-Man, and finds himself on the trail of a new menace prowling the skies of New York City.
- 2017 | The FounderasRay Kroc
The Founder
The story of Ray Kroc, a salesman who turned two brothers' innovative fast food eatery, McDonald's, into the biggest restaurant business in the world, with a combination of ambition, persistence, and ruthlessness.
- 2015 |
- 2014 |
- 1994 | Porco RossoasPorco Rosso
Porco Rosso
In 1930s Italy, a veteran World War I pilot is cursed to look like an anthropomorphic pig.
- 1994 | The Lion KingasBetelgeuse
The Lion King
Lion prince Simba and his father are targeted by his bitter uncle, who wants to ascend the throne himself.
- 1992 | Batman ReturnsasBatman
Batman Returns
While Batman deals with a deformed man calling himself the Penguin wreaking havoc across Gotham with the help of a cruel businessman, a female employee of the latter becomes the Catwoman with her own vendetta.
- 1989 |
- 1988 | BeetlejuiceasBetelgeuse
Beetlejuice
The spirits of a deceased couple are harassed by an unbearable family that has moved into their home, and hire a malicious spirit to drive them out.
Some Facts About Michael Keaton
What’s in a name?: Michael Keaton claims that he found his stage name “Michael Keaton” by randomly searching the phone book.
AKA: Keaton’s nicknames include Keats and Dougie.
Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Lifelong Pittsburgh Pirates fan Keaton wrote a blog about the Pirates for ESPN’s website in 2013.
A Nice Start: Michael Keaton’s first on-camera performances, as one of the “Flying Zookeeni Brothers,” were on episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in 1975.
A Gentleman and a Scholar: Keaton is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University.
Different movies, different directors, same role—twice!: Michael Keaton is one of the few actors to play the same characters in different movies with different directors that are (mostly) not sequels: As FBI Agent Ray Nicolette, created by author Elmore Leonard, in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown and Steven Soderbergh’s Out of Sight; and four times as Batman/Bruce Wayne in Tim Burton’s Batman, Batman Returns, The Flash and Batgirl.
Go fish: Keaton is an enthusiastic fisherman, which he does near his Montana ranch home, and appears with fellow fishing enthusiasts Tom Brokaw, novelist Thomas McGuane, and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard on the Outdoor Channel show, “Buccaneers & Bones.”
