Kevin Costner Through the Years: Oscar Wins, Raising 7 Kids, ‘Yellowstone’ and More

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Kevin Costner Through the Years: Oscar Wins, Raising 7 Kids, 'Yellowstone' and More

A multi-hyphenate! Kevin Costner has been in show business since the 1980s, wearing many hats — including actor, producer, director and musician. The Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves star — who won the Oscar for Best Directing in 1991 for his film Dances With Wolves — has said that he doesn’t find it difficult to turn his directorial instincts off when he’s acting. “I really am able to divorce myself of it. Because, one, I'm glad that they have the pressure,” Costner told HuffPost in February 2014. “If they want input from me, they can get it. I won't always know what to do about a certain situation or certain problem ... I'm out there every day with them, if I think they're overwhelmed, or whatever, if they look to me, I might say something, but I don't feel the need to.” The Bodyguard actor became a household name in 1987, when he starred in both The Untouchables and No Way Out. A man of the silver screen throughout much of his career, Costner transitioned to television in 2012, portraying Devil Anse Hatfield in the History Channel’s Hatfield & McCoys miniseries. The role earned him an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. [jwplayer DVqkhiaL-zhNYySv2] The California native cemented his TV star status in 2018 when he began starring as John Dutton III in the Paramount Network’s Yellowstone, earning a Golden Globe for Best Television Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in 2023. Costner spoke about the success of the Neo-Western drama — which has spawned multiple spinoffs — during a June 2022 interview with Entertainment Tonight. "I've always said, it's not too hard to be popular, you can do a lot of things to get noticed or whatever, but if you're trying to be relevant in your own life, you maybe have to be doing the things you feel like are important to you,” he told the outlet. “When I found Yellowstone, it hadn't been made. I liked the story, I thought we could do this, so the idea that it's good — that doesn't surprise me at all. The idea that it blew up — that's something you can’t always predict." Aside from his career, the Let Him Go producer is also a family man, having welcomed seven children over the years. He shares daughters Annie and Lily, born in 1984 and 1986, respectively, and son Joe, born in 1988, with ex-wife Cindy Silva. After the pair's divorce in 1994, Costner had a brief relationship with Bridget Rooney, with whom he welcomed son Liam in 1996. Costner went on to marry Christine Baumgartner in 2004. The couple share sons Cayden and Hayes, born in 2007 and 2009, respectively, and daughter Grace, born in 2010. In October 2015, the Postman actor joked about having a lenient parenting style in some regards, compared to Baumgartner. “Chris is great about what to eat, because if it was up to me, they'd have chocolate. You know? They'd have what's simple. 'Put some ribs in there.' Chris goes, 'No, that's not how we're going to do it,’” he told ET at the time. Scroll through for a look at Costner’s life over the years:

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1978

The Open Range director married his first wife, Silva, after meeting her in college.

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1984

Costner and Silva became parents for the first time, welcoming their daughter Annie. 

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1986

The then-couple’s daughter Lily was born.

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1987

Costner became a bona fide star with the release of his films The Untouchables and No Way Out. 

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1988

The Hidden Figures actor welcomed his third child with Silva, son Joe. 

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1989

Costner starred in the sports fantasy drama Field of Dreams, which received three Oscar nominations including Best Picture. 

During a July 2008 appearance on Late Night With Conan O’Brien, the Highwayman producer was asked why the film has the power to make adult men cry. 

“That movie I think is our generation’s It’s a Wonderful Life,” he explained. “And it doesn’t matter how often you watch that movie … it seems to get [to] people.”

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1990

The Message in a Bottle actor made his directorial debut with Dances With Wolves, which he also starred in. Although the film earned him an Oscar for Best Directing, Costner faced his share of insecurity going into the project.

“I was nervous enough being a director on it,” he said during a February 2014 Role Call interview. The Bill Durham star revealed that it took a few days for him to relax into the position. 

“I went, ‘This looks like a movie.’ I was desperately hoping that it would,” he said. 

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1994

Costner and Silva called it quits after 16 years of marriage.  

The Golden Globe winner opened about how his divorce affected him during a May 2012 interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“My faith was shaken. No one wants their marriage to end, and it did. You are going to see the people you love most, your children, only half as much. That’s a huge loss,” he said at the time. 

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1996

The Rumor Has It star welcomed son Liam with Rooney, whom he briefly dated following his split from Silva. 

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1999

Costner began dating Baumgartner. The pair initially met in the 1980s while the Draft Day actor was still married to Silva. 

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2003

Costner and his now-wife briefly split due to different opinions about having children. 

“Fear kept me from marrying Christine. [She] wanted a child, but I was afraid I couldn’t be an effective father,” the Thirteen Days actor told Closer Weekly in June 2018, noting that he later overcame his anxieties. “I woke up and thought, ‘Am I going to lose a beautiful woman who is willing to be with me to my very last breath because I am afraid to say yes to a child?’ That’s all it took. Sometimes you learn the thing you’re most afraid of will save your life.”

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2004

Costner and Baumgartner tied the knot.

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2007

The lovebirds welcomed their first child together, son Cayden.

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2007

The Waterworld star began a worldwide tour with his country rock band, Kevin Costner & Modern West, which he founded with the encouragement of Baumgartner. The group’s music would later be featured on season 3 of Yellowstone in 2020. 

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2009

Costner and Baumgartner welcomed their son Hayes. 

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2010

The Billy the Kid: New Evidence producer further expanded his family with the birth of his daughter Grace.

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2012

Costner starred in the miniseries Hatfields & McCoys. 

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2013

The Molly’s Game actor earned a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for his performance in Hatfields & McCoys. 

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2018

Costner began portraying patriarch John Dutton III in Yellowstone.

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2020

The Wyatt Earp actor opened up about how the coronavirus pandemic had strengthened his bond with his wife.

"Our partnership has really come into focus about what we do for each other and how we deal with our family," Costner told People in June. “Our house is like a river: You’ve just got to get into the flow of it. And whatever you thought it was going to be, maybe it still can, but it’s going to have to work with what the day brings."

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2023

Costner earned a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Drama for Yellowstone; however, he wasn’t able to accept the accolade in person.

“Yesterday, we had to pull the kids out of school, and in Santa Barbara, this is the second time in five years … the freeways flooded out,” the Field of Dreams star said in an Instagram video just minutes before the ceremony began. “We found ourselves on the wrong side of town and couldn’t get back last night. We couldn’t even get back to the house this morning in time, with the freeways closed.”