Harrison Ford

"Bikes and planes aren't about going fast or having fun; they're toys, but serious ones".
Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford was born July 13, 1942, at Chicago, Illinois' Swedish Covenant Hospital,to Dorothy (née Dora Nidelman), a homemaker and former radio actress, and Christopher Ford (born John William Ford), an advertising executive and a former actor. A younger brother, Terence, was born in 1945. Ford's paternal grandparents, John Fitzgerald Ford and Florence Veronica Niehaus, were of Irish Catholic and German descent, respectively.Ford's maternal grandparents, Harry Nidelman and Anna Lifschutz, were Jewish immigrants from Minsk, Belarus (at that time a part of the Russian Empire). When asked in which religion he was raised, Harrison Ford has jokingly responded, "Democrat."He has also said that he feels "Irish as a person, but I feel Jewish as an actor."

In 1960, Harrison Ford graduated from Maine East High School in Park Ridge, Illinois. His was the first student voice broadcast on his high school's new radio station, WMTH, and he was its first sportscaster during his senior year (1959–1960). He attended Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity. He took a drama class in his junior year, chiefly as a way to meet women. Ford, a self-described "late bloomer," became fascinated with acting.

In 1964, Harrison Ford traveled to Los Angeles, California to apply for a job in radio voice-overs. He did not get it, but stayed in California and eventually signed a $150 a week contract with Columbia Pictures' New Talent program, playing bit roles in films. His first known part was an uncredited role as a bellhop in Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966). There is little record of his non-speaking roles (or "extra" work) in film. Ford was at the bottom of the hiring list, having offended Jerry Tokovsky after he played a bellboy in the feature and was told by Tokovsky, that Tony Curtis delivered a bag of groceries, he did it like a star. Ford felt his job was act like a bellboy.Ford managed to secure other roles in movies such as The Long Ride Home, starring Glenn Ford, George Hamilton and Inger Stevens.

Harrison Ford's carpentry work eventually landed him his first starring film role. In 1975, George Lucas hired him to read lines for actors auditioning for parts in his space opera, Star Wars (1977). Lucas was eventually won over by Ford's portrayal, and cast him as Han Solo.Star Wars became one of the most successful movies of all time worldwide, and established Harrison Ford as a superstar. He went on to star in the similarly-successful Star Wars sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), as well as The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). Ford wanted Lucas to write in the death of the iconic Han Solo at the end of either sequel, saying, "That would have given the whole film a bottom," but Lucas refused.

Harrison Ford's status as a leading actor was solidified when he starred as Indiana Jones in the George Lucas/Steven Spielberg collaboration Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). Though Spielberg was interested in casting Ford in the lead role from the start, Lucas was not, due to having already worked with the actor in American Graffiti and Star Wars, but he eventually relented after Tom Selleck was unable to accept. Ford reprised the role for the prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), and the sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), which turned him into a blockbuster phenomenon. He later returned to his role as Indiana Jones again for a 1993 episode of the television series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and for the fourth film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

Other 2008 work included Crossing Over, directed by Wayne Kramer. In the film, he plays an immigrations officer, working alongside Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta. Harrison Ford also narrated a feature documentary film about the Dalai Lama entitled Dalai Lama Renaissance. Ford filmed the medical drama Extraordinary Measuresin 2009 in Portland, Oregon. Released January 22, 2010, the film also starred Brendan Fraser and Alan Ruck. Also in 2010, he co-starred in the film Morning Glory, along with Patrick Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Diane Keaton.