Richard Tiffany Gere (born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He first became famous during the 1980s, after appearing in several successful Hollywood films, including An Officer and a Gentleman, and has since retained his status as a leading man. During the 1990s and 2000s, he starred in several well-received films, Pretty Woman, Primal Fear, and Chicago for which he won a Golden Globe award as Best Actor.Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gere is a descendant of Mayflower Pilgrims Francis Eaton, John Billington, George Soule, Richard Warren, Degory Priest, William Brewster and Francis Cooke.Gere's father, Homer George Gere, was an insurance agent for the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. His mother, Doris Anna Tiffany, was a homemaker. He has three sisters, and a brother. In 1967, Gere graduated from North Syracuse Central High School, where he excelled at gymnastics and music, playing the trumpet. He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, on a gymnastics scholarship, majoring in Philosophy, but did not graduate, leaving after two years to pursue acting.
Gere was married to supermodel Cindy Crawford from 1991 to 1995. In 2002, he married actress Carey Lowell. They have a son, Homer James Jigme Gere, who was born in 2000, and is named after Gere's father. They live in Pound Ridge, New York.
