Biography And Filmography:

Kim Basinger started her career playing the dumb blonde, but has since shown her acting talents when provided good scripts and good directors. Born in Georgia, she moved to New York City after high school and started working with the Ford modeling agency. After five years as a cover girl, she made the move to acting, starting with a guest appearances on shows like "Starsky and Hutch" and "Charlie's Angels". She was cast in the role of a cop in the ABC television series "Dog and Cat" (1977) before being hired for the lead role in the television movie "Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold" (1978). She was then cast for the role of Lorene Rogers in the 1979 miniseries "From Here to Eternity" starring Natalie Wood, and the spin-off the following year. Even with more roles in television movies, the actress never seemed to find an audience in television.

Her down south southern accent helped her win the role of the girlfriend of cowboy Jan-Michael Vincent in "Hard Country" (1981) with Daryl Hannah. In her next film "Mother Lode" (1982), she co-starred with director Charlton Heston. Her career picked up in the early 1980's after she appeared as James Bond Girl Domino Petachi in "Never Say Never Again" starring Sean Connery, and then co-starred with Burt Reynolds in Blake Edwards' remake of "The Man Who Loved Women" (1983). A nude layout in Playboy Magazine that same year also won her attention and shocked many of her fans. Young boys from around the country flocked to get there hands on the latest Playboy for the chance to see the actress naked. It seemed the world wanted to see the nude centerfold photos, and that months edition was one of the fastest selling issues in the history of the magazine.  

She then moved on with the role of femme fatale Memo Paris who romances Robert Redford in "The Natural" (1984) also starring Glenn Close. Having lost out on two roles to Jessica Lange ("The Postman Always Rings Twice" 1981 and "Frances" 1982), she was given a role that had been saved for Lange - Sam Shepard's half-sister in the film of Shepard's Off-Broadway hit "Fool for Love" (1985) about a women named May, who is waiting for her boyfriend in a run-down motel, when an old lover appears and threatens to undermine her efforts and drag her back into the life that she was running away from. 

The late 80s, began with an obsessive relationship in "9 1/2 Weeks" (1986), an erotic story about a woman who has an affair with a man. Her attempts at comedy were often hurt by the poor script material as in Blake Edwards' "Blind Date" (1987) with Bruce Willis, or "My Stepmother Is an Alien" (1988) featuring Seth Green. The actress finally found a better role as the gorgeous Vicki Vale, love interest for Michael Keaton's "Batman" (1989) with Jack Nicholson as the Joker. Then came "The Marrying Man" (1991). This romantic comedy bombed at the box office but she and co-star Alec Baldwin fell in love and were married in 1993.

Next, she played a cartoon vampire who becomes human in Ralph Bakshi's live animated movie "Cool World" (1992) with Brad Pitt, and then had a guest appearance as Honey Hornee in "Wayne's World 2" (1993) with Mike Myers. Teaming with Alec Baldwin again, she was given the role started by Ali MacGraw in "The Getaway" (1994) about a man who is put in prison because his partners chickened out and flew off without him after exchanging a prisoner with a lot of money. That same year, she impressed critics as a fashion reporter in Robert Altman's "Ready-to-Wear" where a fashion show in Paris draws the usual bunch of people; designers, reporters, models, magazine editors. 

After a three-year vacation from Hollywood and the movie business which included giving birth to a daughter, the actress returned to films in a much-loved, Oscar winning performance of a 1950s Hollywood prostitute with more than a casual likeness to screen star Veronica Lake in Curtis Hanson's "L.A. Confidential" (1997) about a shooting at an all night diner that is investigated by three policemen in their own unique ways.

She has also received a lot of publicity for her work on behalf of animal rights and for her 1993 legal troubles over a verbal contract to star in the controversial film "Boxing Helena" (1993). When the court ordered her to pay out more then $10 million, she was forced to declare personal bankruptcy and sell her interest in the town of Braselton, Georgia. Ultimately, the ruling in the breach of contract suit was overturned on appeal.

Kim and Baldwin had been tabloid gold before, when Alec's temper exploded on photographers when they tried to take a picture of his wife and daughter, but their strong relationship withstood the severe media scrutiny when they filed for divorce in January of 2001. 

Things improved in 2002 when she re-teamed with Hanson to star as Eminem's disturbed mother in "8 Mile," a story telling of the hip-hop artists rise from the streets of urban Detroit. Her role opposite Al Pacino in "People I Know" (2003) with Tea Leoni was largely overlooked, but she portrayed the sad widow of Pacino's suicide brother with grace.

She was then hired and cast in a lead role in "The Door in the Floor" (2004), a revision of John Irving's "A Widow For One Year", in which she and Jeff Bridges play a couple whose loss has caused them to exist in a constant state of quiet emotional war and depression in which she seduces a younger man. Her next role was the pop thriller "Cellular" (2004) with Jessica Biel, an intelligent film in which she plays a kidnapped science teacher who communicates with a stranger (Chris Evans) through a cell phone. Next was the romantic comedy "Elvis Has Left the Building" (2004) about a fugitive woman who hooks up with a bored ad exec as she's trying to avoid going down for the murder of several Elvis impersonators. She then appeared in the independent crime drama "Even Money" (2006) where a gambling addiction brings the stories of three otherwise unconnected people together as it destroys each of their lives. 

She wrapped her year with the blockbuster smash hit "The Sentinel" (2006) with an all-star cast including Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland and Eva Longoria Parker, about a secret service agent who is framed as the mole in an assassination attempt on the president. He must clear his name and foil another assassination attempt while on the run from a relentless FBI agent. Next was a starring role in the thriller "While She Was Out" (2008) with Lukas Haas, about a suburban housewife who is forced to fend for herself when she becomes stranded in a desolate forest with four killers. 

She left the thriller theme for a chance at comedy again in "The Informers" (2008) with Billy Bob Thornton and Brad Renfro, a drama based on Bret Easton Ellis' novel set in 1983 Los Angeles, where movie executives, rock stars, a vampire, and other morally challenged character mix and commingle. Sadly, this would be the last movie Brad Renfro would ever appear in as he was found dead shortly after finishing the film. 

She wrapped her year by starring along side Charlize Theron in the dramatic "The Burning Plain" (2009) a drama with a two-tiered storyline concerning a mother and daughter (Charlize Theron) who try to form a bond after the young woman's difficult childhood.

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