#Chris young actor wikipedia series#

He planned to go to New York City to find a career in theater. Cornell Īfter graduating from Princeton Day School in June 1970, Reeve acted in plays in Boothbay, Maine. His interest was solidified when at age fifteen, he spent a summer as an apprentice at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Reeve found his passion for acting in 1962 at age nine when he was cast in an amateur version of the operetta The Yeomen of the Guard it was the first of many student plays. Between 19 the two barely spoke to each other, but they reconciled after Reeve's paralyzing accident. He wrote in 1998 that his father's 'love for his children always seemed tied to performance' and he put pressure on himself to act older than he actually was in order to gain his father's approval. Reeve had a difficult relationship with his father, Franklin. The sportsmanship award at Princeton Day School's invitational hockey tournament was named in Reeve's honor. Reeve excelled academically, athletically, and onstage he was on the honor roll and played soccer, baseball, tennis, and hockey. įranklin and Barbara divorced in 1956, and she moved with Christopher and his younger brother to Princeton, New Jersey, where they attended Nassau Street School and then Princeton Country Day School (today called the Princeton Day School). For over 25 years his paternal grandfather, Colonel Richard Henry Reeve, was CEO of the Prudential Life Insurance Company. Other ancestors of Reeve came from the French aristocracy. Through his mother, he is a 12th generation descendant of William Bradford, a pilgrim and five-time Governor of Plymouth Colony. Many of his ancestors had been in America since the early 17th century, some having been aboard the Mayflower. Reeve was born on September 25, 1952, in New York City, the son of Barbara Pitney Lamb, a journalist and Franklin D'Olier Reeve (1928–2013), a teacher, novelist, poet, and scholar.

His advocacy work included leading the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation and co-founding the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. After his accident, he lobbied for spinal injury research, including human embryonic stem cell research, and for better insurance coverage for people with disabilities. Over the course of his career, Reeve received a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, an Emmy Award, and a Grammy Award.īeginning in the 1980s, Reeve was an activist for environmental and human-rights causes and for artistic freedom of expression.

#Chris young actor wikipedia series#

He also made several appearances in the Superman-themed television series Smallville, and wrote two autobiographical books, Still Me and Nothing Is Impossible. Reeve returned to creative work, directing In the Gloaming (1997) and acting in the television remake of Rear Window (1998). He used a wheelchair and ventilator for the rest of his life. On May 27, 1995, Reeve was paralyzed from the shoulders down after being thrown from a horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Virginia. He later appeared in critically successful films such as The Bostonians (1984), Street Smart (1987), and The Remains of the Day (1993), and in the plays Fifth of July on Broadway and The Aspern Papers in London's West End. After his acclaimed performances in Superman and Superman II, Reeve declined many roles in action movies, choosing instead to work in small films and plays with more complex characters. He studied at Cornell University and the Juilliard School making his Broadway debut in 1976.

Ferdinand Schureman Schenck (great-great-great-great-grandfather)Ĭhristopher D'Olier Reeve (Septem– October 10, 2004) was an American actor, film director, author, and activist, best known for playing the title character in the film Superman (1978) and three sequels.īorn in New York City and raised in Princeton, New Jersey, Reeve discovered a passion for acting and theater at the age of nine.

Mary Schenck Woolman (great-great-grandaunt).