Born on Dec. 29, 1938, in Yonkers, N.Y., Jon Voight began acting on the stage before appearing in small television and film roles. He created a splash in 1969 with his portrayal of vulnerable bumpkin Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy, one of the seminal films of the 1960s.Voight received numerous honors for the role, including Best Actor Golden Globe and BAFTA awards and an Oscar nomination. His 1978 turn as a wounded Vietnam veteran in Coming Home nabbed him the Oscar for Best Actor. Voight received additional Oscar applause for Runaway Train and Ali.
Other notable films include Catch-22, Deliverance, Heat, Mission: Impossible, The Rainmaker and The Manchurian Candidate. Voight continues to work in film and television, and earned an Emmy nod for his portrayal of Pope John Paul II in the eponymous 2005 television movie. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie.
DeliveranceFour suburban friends take a canoeing trip down a Georgia river, but what starts as a lighthearted adventure becomes a voyage into the heart of darkness when redneck locals descend on the foursome and force them to kill or be killed. Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty star in this... Read More
The Five People You Meet in HeavenBased on best-selling author Mitch Albom's book, this moving TV drama centers on Eddie (Steven Grayhm and Jon Voight), who dies at the age of 83, uncertain that he was able to save a girl from a horrible accident and doubting that his life had any significance. In heaven, Eddie meets five souls who,... Read More
Jasper, TexasIn 1998, Jasper, Tex., was the location of the horrific murder of an African-American man named James Byrd Jr. (Roy T. Anderson), who was brutally dragged to his death at the hands of three white men who tied him to a pickup truck. With media swarming around, white sheriff Billy Rowles (Jon Voight)... Read More
The Odessa FileAfter finding the diary of a Holocaust survivor who had recently committed suicide, journalist Peter Miller (Jon Voight) begins following the trail of an SS officer who commanded a concentration camp during World War II. Miller soon finds himself involved with an organization of former SS members... Read More
September DawnThis tragic tale juxtaposes a fictional love story and a fact-based account of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, an act of religious fanaticism that claimed the lives of as many as 120 westward-bound settlers -- men, women and children. Read More
