Family moved to Greenwich Village in NYC

First acting experience at age nine, playing St Peter in Catholic school play (date approximate)

Joined the Theater for the New City by age 12 (date approximate)

Co-founded with a group of fellow UCLA students and (until 1997) served as artistic director of The Actors' Gang, a theater troupe based in Los Angeles

Made TV-movie debut in CBS' "Quarterback Princess"

Film acting debut, "No Small Affair"

Wrote and filmed an early version of "Bob Roberts" for NBC's "Saturday Night Live"

Played Joseph Cotton in TV-movie "Malice in Wonderland" (CBS)

First feature lead in the disastrous "Howard the Duck", produced and disowned by George Lucas

Breakthrough role as 'Nuke' LaLoosh in Ron Shelton's baseball comedy "Bull Durham", which introduced him to significant other Susan Sarandon

Acted opposite John Cusack in the energetic but pretentious "Tapeheads"; also wrote the song "Repave Amerika", which would later find its way into "Bob Roberts"

First time headlining a feature as the eponymous "Erik the Viking", directed by Terry Jones

Co-wrote and directed The Actors Gang in "Carnage" at NYC's New York Shakespeare Festival, Public Theater

Played crazed, simple-minded cuckholded husband who takes everyone hostage in a car dealership in "Cadillac Man", starring Robin Williams

Starred as the troubled Vietnam veteran of the underrated "Jacob's Ladder"

Solidified standing as a leading actor in Hollywood playing the murderous Hollywood excutive in Robert Altman's satirical "The Player"; first of three films with Altman

Borrowed Altman's director of photography, Jean Lepine, for feature directorial debut, "Bob Roberts"; starred as titular character; also wrote the script and all the songs (a nod to his father Gil)

First radio play, "Mayhem: The Invasion" for L.A. Theater Works

Formed Chaos Productions

Reteamed with Altman for "Short Cuts"

Made third film with Altman "Ready to Wear (Pret-a-Porter)"

Changed production company name from Chaos to Havoc Inc.

Was perfectly cast as the wide-eyed patsy of the Coen brothers' extravagant "The Hudsucker Proxy"

Delivered a tour de force performance in "The Shawshank Redemption", based on a novella by Stephen King

Earned Oscar nomination as Best Director for "Dead Man Walking", which won Sarandon the Best Actress Oscar

Executive produced, hosted, narrated and served as interviewer for "The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera", the Independent Film Channel's documentary on iconoclastic filmmaker Sam Fuller

Played a hotshot advertising executive who goes on a rampage in Steve Oedekerk's "Nothing to Lose"

Contributed cameo as the President in "Austin Powers II: The Spy Who Shagged Me"

Starred opposite Jeff Bridges in "Arlington Road", a thriller echoing the Oklahoma City bombing and raising hard questions about domestic terrorism

Directed "Cradle Will Rock"; marked his fifth collaboration with Cusack; Sarandon portrayed Margherita Sarfatti, Mussolini's emissary and former mistress

Acted in Brian De Palma's "Mission to Mars"

Portrayed a billionaire software manufacturer in the thriller "Antitrust"

Teamed with Patricia Arquette as a scientist who discovers a feral man in "Human Nature"; premiered at Cannes; released theatrically in USA in 2002

Resumed position as artistic director of the Actors' Gang Theater; directed new production of "Mephisto"

Directed the CBS TV pilot "Queens Supreme"

Acted opposite Helen Hunt in the Actors' Gang's Los Angeles production of the 9/11 themed two-person play "The Guys"

Co-starred in the action thriller "The Truth About Charlie"

Starred in director Clint Eastwood's psychological thriller "Mystic River"

Starred opposite Samantha Morton in Michael Winterbottom's "Code 46"

Starred with Tom Cruise in Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," based on H.G. Wells' novel, which chronicles a Martian invasion of Earth

Cast in "Zathura," which was writted by Chris Van Allsburg as the sequel to "Jumanji"; directed by Jon Favreau

Co-starred in the political thriller "Catch a Fire," directed by Phillip Noyce