Richard Gere

Richard Gere was married to model Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. He married model and actress Carey Lowell in 2002, and their divorce was finalized in 2016 after they separated in 2013. They have a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, who was born in 2000.

Gere has been married to Spanish activist Alejandra Silva since 2018. They have two sons, born in 2019 and 2020. Gere has described his interest in Buddhism as beginning in his 20s, and he later became a practicing Tibetan Buddhist after studying Zen Buddhism and meeting Tibetan monks, lamas, and the 14th Dalai Lama.

Gere studied philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on a gymnastics scholarship, but left after two years to pursue acting. He began his professional stage career at the Seattle Repertory Theatre and Provincetown Playhouse, later appearing in the London production of Grease in 1973. He also acted in Taming of the Shrew and received a Theatre World Award for portraying a concentration-camp prisoner in the 1979 Broadway production of Bent.

His early screen work included a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar and a starring performance in Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven. His breakthrough came with the title role in American Gigolo in 1980, which established him as a leading man and sex symbol. An Officer and a Gentleman, opposite Debra Winger, further cemented his stardom.

Gere's major films of the 1990s included Internal Affairs, Pretty Woman, Sommersby, First Knight, Primal Fear, The Jackal, and Runaway Bride. Pretty Woman paired him with Julia Roberts, and the two reunited in Runaway Bride in 1999. Gere was named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive that year.

In 2002, Gere played lawyer Billy Flynn in the film adaptation of the musical Chicago, winning the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy. He also appeared in Unfaithful, The Hoax, I'm Not There, Hachi: A Dog's Tale, and Arbitrage. His performance in Arbitrage earned a Golden Globe nomination, while his portrayal of Norman Oppenheimer in Norman marked a departure from his familiar romantic-leading-man roles. Gere composed and performed the piano theme for Pretty Woman and studied tap dancing for Chicago.

Gere is a prominent advocate for human rights in Tibet. He co-founded Tibet House US, established the Gere Foundation, and has served as chairman of the board of the International Campaign for Tibet. His support for Tibetan independence led to a permanent ban on entering China, and he has said that his political views affected his opportunities in major Hollywood productions.

He has also supported Survival International, ecological causes, and AIDS awareness. He helped establish the AIDS Care Home in India for women and children with AIDS and created the Gere Foundation India Trust to support humanitarian programs. In 2007, a court case in India followed his embrace and kisses of Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty at an AIDS awareness event, but India's Supreme Court later described the case as frivolous.