- Born
- Birth nameMichael Connell Biehn
- Nicknames
- Mike
- Mick
- Height5′ 11¾″ (1.82 m)
- Michael Connell Biehn was born on July 31, 1956 in Anniston, Alabama,
to Marcia (Connell) and Don Biehn, a lawyer. He grew up in Lincoln,
Nebraska, and at age 14 moved with his family to Lake Havasu, Arizona,
where he won a drama scholarship to the University of Arizona. He left
prematurely two years later to pursue an acting career in Hollywood.
His first big role was as a psychotic fan stalking
Lauren Bacall in
The Fan (1981) and later appeared in
The Lords of Discipline (1983).
He hit the big-time when he was cast as Kyle Reese, the man sent back
through time to stop
Arnold Schwarzenegger in
James Cameron's
The Terminator (1984). This
established a good working relationship with Cameron, a relationship
that should have catapulted Biehn to international stardom. He starred
in Cameron's subsequent films,
Aliens (1986) and
The Abyss (1989), the latter a standout
performance as unstable Navy SEAL officer Lt. Hiram Coffey. In the
1990s he starred in films like
Navy Seals (1990),
K2 (1991) and was particularly memorable as
Johnny Ringo in Tombstone (1993). Biehn
is married and the father of five sons.- IMDb Mini Biography By: André Hansson <andreh@hawkan.pp.se>
- SpousesJennifer Blanc-Biehn(June 7, 2018 - present) (1 child)Gina Marsh(January 1, 1988 - May 2014) (divorced, 2 children)Carlene Olson(July 11, 1980 - July 14, 1987) (divorced, 2 children)
- Children
- ParentsMarcia Biehn (Connell)Don Biehn
- Frequently plays military soldiers or various sorts of law enforcement officials
- Frequently works with James Cameron
- Frequently portrays characters who are dead by their films' ending
- Of all the films he has done, his favorite is Tombstone (1993).
- Cites not being asked to reprise his role as Corporal Dwayne Hicks for Alien³ (1992) as one of the biggest disappointments of his career.
- He almost did not get the role of Kyle Reese in The Terminator (1984) because at his first audition he spoke in a Southern accent. He had just come another audition for a stage production of "Cat On a Hot Tin Roof" and had not been able to shake the accent, and the producers did not want the character Kyle Reese to seem regionalized. After calling and talking with Biehn's agent, they gave him another audition and he got the role.
- In James Cameron's The Terminator (1984), he gets bitten on the hand by another character. He has suffered the same on-screen injury in every James Cameron film he has been in: in The Terminator (1984) he is bitten by Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in Aliens (1986) Rebecca "Newt" Jorden (Carrie Henn) does the same thing, and in The Abyss (1989) Virgil "Bud" Brigman (Ed Harris) does the honors. This was alluding to him being bitten on the hand in James Cameron's version of Spider-Man.
- Has stated in interviews that his favorite roles were Johnny Ringo and Kyle Reese.
- I'd rather have a small part in a good film with good people than play
the lead in something I don't really care for. - [on not spending much time with Arnold Schwarzenegger on The Terminator (1984)] I saw him around, you know. He was doing his thing, I was doing my thing, but I didn't really get to talk to him because Linda and I spend the entire film running away from Arnold.
- [on the chase scenes in The Terminator (1984)] Looking back on it, I realize we were really going at some high speeds those nights. One night, my adrenaline was running so high I actually tore the steering wheel off, and I just looked over at Linda [Hamilton] and said "Here, you drive!".
- I do a lot of research on most of my roles and before I start a role
when I read a script I know all of the beats in the script and I know
exactly how to do it because I've read about such a character or
experienced similar things myself or had the same sort of relationship
with people. So, when I go in to act it it's mostly technique. I'm not
an actor who just lets things happen in front of the camera. - I know why they think of me as intense. It's because on the set, I'm very
concentrated. I don't just walk on and do my thing and walk off. I'm
very intense when I'm working. I know exactly what I'm doing before I
get in there. [1990 interview]
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