Burt Reynolds is an Oscar-nominated American actor and winner of twelve People’s Choice Awards who is often best remembered for his roles in 1972's Deliverance as Lewis Medlock; as Paul Crewe in the original 1974 version of The Longest Yard; and as Bandit in 1977's Smokey and the Bandit. He also almost bared it all for a Cosmopolitan magazine centerfold in 1972.

He was born Burton Leon Reynolds Jr on February 11, 1936, in Lansing, Michigan to parents Burton Leon Reynolds, a police chief Cherokee Indian and Irish descent, and Fern, who was of English descent.

Reynolds graduated from Palm Beach High School in West Palm Beach, Florida and then went to Florida State University on a college football scholarship. He became an all-star Southern Conference half-back, and joined the football fraternity of choice, the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.

A serious knee injury in 1955 caused by a car accident forced Reynolds to quit football in order to recuperate. He returned to his home town, Riviera Beach, to heal and kept up with his studies by taking classes at Palm Beach Junior College (now known as Palm Beach Community College ). There he met an English professor who got him interested in the concept of acting.

The following year Reynolds returned to Florida State where he switched his major from athletics to college drama. He won that year’s Florida State Drama Award and was also drafted by the NFL team, the Baltimore Colts, but never ended up playing professional football. In 1958 he graduated from Florida State.

Reynolds continued studying acting when he won a scholarship to the Hyde Park Playhouse. He moved the New York and worked as a stuntman for different television programs; his television debut was in the 1950s series, Riverboat. He later went on to appear in other shows including Gunsmoke from 1962 to 1965 where he had the role of blacksmith Quint Asper.

In 1961 Reynolds broke into films with a role in Angel Baby. After this movie he had several roles in low budget films before his breakout performance in Deliverance in 1972.

A few more movies later Reynolds received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 1991 for his role in the CBS television series Evening Shade.

He published his autobiography, My Life, in 1994.

In 1996 he declared bankruptcy after a nasty divorce from his second wife, actress Loni Anderson. The two were married on April 29, 1988, and had one child together. He had no children with his first wife, Judy Carne. Their two-year marriage ended in 1965. Reynolds career seemed to be taking an irreversible nosedive until he landed a role in the movie Striptease the same year. The following year he appeared in Boogie Nights and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. He also won a Golden Globe Award for the movie.

In 2005 he co-starred with Adam Sandler in the remake of The Longest The Longest Yard. In the original, Reynolds played Paul Crewe, who in the 2005 version was played by Sandler; Reynolds took the role of Nate Scarborough. In 2006 he began to appear in Miller Lite beer commercials.

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