Paul Newman Biography

Paul Leonardo Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio. He is child of storeowners Arthur who was a successful sporting goods and Theresa Newman (Irish-Catholic). He also has a brother, Arthur, who is a producer and a production manager.

Paul Newman was color-blind. He attended the Shaker Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio and then joined the Naval Air Corps. After serving in the South Pacific during World War II, Paul went to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, on an athletic scholarship, studied Economics and graduated in 1949.

Paul's sports career was ended because of an injury and he joined drama classes at Yale University. Fter that in 1950 his father's death led him to run the family's sporting goods store in Cleveland for a while before he decided to put serious effort into acting.

Newman left the Yale drama classes and went to New York to play the occasional cast member for the series "The Aldrich Family" and appeared as a guest on the shows "Tales of Tomorrow" and "You Are There."

In 1958, Paul Newman met his future wife Joanne Woodward in the Whilst's movie "The Long Hot Summer". They both were starred in this film and after getting married they decided to appear together on screen throughout their careers.

In 1961, he made The Hustler movie in which he played one of his most compelling performances as pool shark "Fast" Eddie Felson, after that he bought himself out of his Warner Bros contract. In 1963 he made Hud playing a Texas rancher and for this he gained his third Golden Globe nomination.

The following year had rich rewards as Newman won the Best Director award for his directorial debut Rachel, Rachel starring his wife in the lead role. Another notable appearance during this time was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) with Robert Redford.

During 1970's, Paul Newman started a production company with Barbara Streisand and Steve McQueen to help actors produce their own projects. His acting career continued and in 1973 Newman again teamed up with Robert Redford to make The Sting, which won the Best Picture award.

In 1986 Newman finally won the Best Actor award for his performance in The Colour of Money alongside Tom Cruise, with Newman reprising the role of Felson he played in The Hustler. Since that time his films have been less in number but 2002's The Road to Perdition earned him his tenth Best Actor nomination.

Paul Newman may be best remembered for acting in such films as Hot Tin Roof (1958), The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Cool Hand Luke (1967), Absence Of Malice (1981), The Verdict (1982), Nobody's Fool (1994) and Road to Perdition (2002). The actor-director, who was nominated for both Tony and Emmy Awards for acting in "Our Town," recently appeared in the miniseries "Empire Falls" (2005) and will lend his voice to the upcoming animated movie Cars.

About his personal life, in 1949, Newman married to Jackie Witte, but they seperated in 1958. While performing in a Broadway production of William Inge's "Picnic," Newman met actress Joanne Woodward and they were married on January 29, 1958.

Paul Newman has six children, daughters Claire Newman, Melissa Newman and Elinor Newman from Joanne Woodward. Susan Newman, Stephanie and son Scott Newman born on September 23, 1950 and died on November 20, 1978 of a drug overdose from Jackie Witte.