Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago. When he was growing up he was an active boy scout and earned the rank of Life Scout, which is the second-highest one. In high school he did the first student broadcast on the school’s radio station and also was a sportscaster. In 1960 he graduated and in college he took drama and became interested in acting. He moved to L.A. in 1964 to try to get a job doing voice-overs, but didn’t manage to get it. He signed up for a contract with Columbia Pictures earning $150 a week and he made very small appearances in movies. He also did some TV shows for Universal. Since his career wasn’t really taking off he decided to become a carpenter and became stagehand for The Doors and built a recording studio for Sérgio Mendes.

He eventually was hired to build cabinets at the home of George Lucas, who gave him a supporting role in American Graffiti. Francis Ford Coppola hired him to expand his office and also gave him roles in The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. His big breakthrough came when he was cast as Han Solo in Star Wars and since then he has appeared in a lot of movies including the Indiana Jones series, Blade Runner, Presumed Innocent, Patriot Games and The Fugitive. Continue reading →