Kevin Reynolds biography

Kevin Reynolds

Date of Birth: January 17, 1952

Hailing from San Antonio, Texas, Reynolds is the oldest of two brothers and a sister. With a father in the Air Force, Reynolds was a typical army brat. Developing a taste for drama in high school, Reynolds attended Trinity University where he studied drama and wrote plays.

Although he loved movies, he followed in his father's footsteps and graduated from Baylor University in Waco.

Following law school, he worked as a lawyer in Austin for several years before his interest in film got the better of him and he returned to film school at the University of Southern California.

His thesis film, Proof, found its way into the hands of Steven Spielberg who decided to help Reynolds turn it into a feature film.

Titled Fandango and released in 1985, it marked the first of many collaborations between him and Kevin Costner.

Within the next decade, the two worked on three more films, the blockbuster and number one summer hit, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991); Rapa Nui (1994); and the box office bomb that ended their business relationship, Waterworld (1995).

Following Waterworld, Reynolds needed a change of pace and decided to look for a film that was smaller in scope and was more character driven. He turned to One Eight Seven (1997), which was a harrowing contemporary examination of the blackboard jungle.

Starring Samuel L. Jackson, the relatively small budget film was not as warmly received as Reynolds had hoped.

Since the start of the new millennium he has directed two more period pieces, The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) and Tristan & Isolde (2006).