Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), known professionally as Michael Keaton, is an American actor. His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. In 2016, Keaton received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named Officer of Order of Arts and Letters in France. Keaton gained early recognition for his comedic roles in Night Shift (1982), Mr. Mom (1983), and Beetlejuice (1988). He gained wider stardom portraying the titular superhero in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992). Other notable roles include Clean and Sober (1988), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), The Paper (1994), Multiplicity (1996), Jackie Brown (1997), Jack Frost (1998), First Daughter (2004), Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), The Other Guys (2010), and Dumbo (2019). He also voiced roles in Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Minions (2015). Keaton experienced a career resurgence portraying a faded actor attempting a comeback in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman (2014), which earned him an Academy Award nomination and his first Golden Globe Award. He has since acted in biographical dramas such as Spotlight (2015), The Founder (2016), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), and Worth (2021). He portrayed the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), while also reprising his roles as Batman in The Flash (2023) and the title role in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024). Keaton directed the neo-noir The Merry Gentleman (2008) and crime drama Knox Goes Away (2023), in which he also starred. On television, he starred as a journalist in the HBO film Live from Baghdad (2002) and a drug-addicted doctor in the Hulu limited series Dopesick (2021), for which he won a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and an Actors Award. == Early life == Michael John Douglas, the youngest of seven children, was born at Ohio Valley Hospital in Kennedy Township, Pennsylvania, on September 5, 1951. He was raised between McKees Rocks, Coraopolis and Robinson Township, Pennsylvania. His father, George A. Douglas (1905–1977), worked as a civil engineer and surveyor, and his mother, Leona Elizabeth (née Loftus; 1909–2002), was a homemaker, and came from McKees Rocks. Keaton was raised in a Catholic family. He said he liked going to Catholic school and being an altar boy, and the school shaped who he was. His mother was of Irish descent, while his father was of Scottish, Scotch-Irish, German and English ancestry, and was originally from a Protestant family. Keaton attended Montour High School in Robinson Township, Pennsylvania. He graduated with the class of 1969, and studied speech for two years at Kent State University, where he appeared in plays, and returned to Pennsylvania to pursue his career. == Career == === 1975–1988: Early career and breakthrough === Keaton first appeared on television in the Pittsburgh public television programs Where the Heart Is and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1975). For Mister Rogers he played one of the "Flying Zucchini Brothers" and served as a full-time production assistant. (In 2003, after Fred Rogers' death, Keaton hosted a PBS memorial tribute, Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor; in 2018, he hosted a 50th anniversary special of the series for PBS, Mister Rogers: It's You I Like.) Keaton also worked as an actor in Pittsburgh theatre; he played the role of Rick in the Pittsburgh premiere of David Rabe's Sticks and Bones with the Pittsburgh Poor Players. He also performed stand-up comedy during his early years to supplement his income. Keaton left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for various television parts. He popped up in various popular television shows including Maude and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour. He decided to use a stage name to satisfy SAG rules, as there were already an actor (Michael Douglas) and daytime host (Mike Douglas) with the same or similar names. In response to questions as to whether he selected his new surname due to an attraction to actress Diane Keaton, or in homage to silent film actor Buster Keaton, he has responded by saying "it had nothing to do with that". Keaton searched a phone book under "K", saw "Keaton" and decided to stop looking. Keaton's film debut came in a small non-speaking role in the Joan Rivers film Rabbit Test (1978). His next big break was working alongside Jim Belushi in the short-lived comedy series Working Stiffs, which showcased his comedic talent and led to a co-starring role in the comedy Night Shift (1982) directed by Ron Howard. This was his breakout role as the fast-talking schemer Bill "Billy Blaze" Blazejowski and earned Keaton some critical acclaim. Night Shift led to Keaton becoming a leading man in the 1983 comedy hit Mr. Mom. Keaton was pigeonholed as a comic lead during this time with films like Johnny Dangerously (1984), Gung Ho (1986), The Squeeze (1987), and The Dream Team (1989), though Keaton tried to transition to dramatic leads as early as 1984, playing a hockey player in Touch and Go, which was shelved until 1986. Woody Allen cast Keaton as the lead in The Purple Rose of Cairo the following year, but after filming began Allen felt Keaton was "too modern" and reshot his scenes with Jeff Daniels in the final film, further delaying his transition to drama in the public eye. When Touch and Go was finally released in 1986 the studio was still unsure of how to market the film, making the poster, trailer and TV spots similar to Mr. Mom, which resulted in the film not finding its target audience. 1988 was a seminal year in Keaton's career, in which he landed two major unconventional roles, forever changing his image to audiences. He played the title character in Tim Burton's horror-comedy Beetlejuice, earning Keaton widespread acclaim and boosting him to Hollywood's A list. That same year, he also gave an acclaimed dramatic performance as a drug-addicted realtor in Glenn Gordon Caron's Clean and Sober. === 1989–1999: Established actor === Keaton's career was given another major boost when he was again cast by Tim Burton, this time as the title comic book superhero of the 1989 film Batman. Warner Bros. received thousands of written complaints from fans who believed Keaton was the wrong choice to portray Batman. However, Keaton's performance in the role ultimately earned widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences, and Batman became one of 1989's most successful films. According to Les Daniels's reference book Batman: The Complete History, Keaton initially believed the film would be similar in tone to the 1960s TV series starring Adam West. However, after reading Frank Miller's comic book miniseries The Dark Knight Returns, he understood the darker, more brooding side of Batman that Burton's adaptation was going for, which he portrayed to much fan approval. Keaton later reprised the role for the sequel Batman Returns (1992), which was another critically acclaimed success. He was initially set to reprise the role again for a third Batman film, even going as far as to show up for costume fitting. However, when Burton was dropped as director of the film, Keaton left the franchise as well. He was reportedly dissatisfied with the screenplay approved by the new director, Joel Schumacher. According to the A&E Biography episode on Keaton, after he had refused the first time (after meetings with Schumacher), Warner Bros. offered him $15 million, but Keaton steadfastly refused and was replaced by Val Kilmer in Batman Forever (1995). Keaton remained active during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films, including Pacific Heights (1990), One Good Cop (1991), My Life (1993) and the star-studded Shakespearean story Much Ado About Nothing (1993). He starred in The Paper (1994) and Multiplicity (1996), and twice in the same role, that of Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette, in the films Jackie Brown (1997) and Out of Sight (1998). He made the family holiday movie Jack Frost (1998) and the thriller Desperate Measures (1998). Keaton starred as a political candidate's speechwriter in 1994's Speechless. === 2000–2013: Limited roles and venture into voice acting === In the early 2000s, Keaton appeared in several films with mixed success, including Live From Baghdad (2002, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe award), First Daughter (2004, playing the President of the United States), White Noise (2005) and Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005). While he continued to receive good notices from the critics (particularly for Jackie Brown), he was not able to re-approach the box-office success of Batman until the release of Disney/Pixar's Cars (2006), in which he voiced Chick Hicks, a green race car with a mustache, who frequently loses his patience with losing to his longtime rival, Strip Weathers, a.k.a. The King, voiced by Richard Petty. On New Year's Day of 2004, he hosted the PBS television special Mr. Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor. It was released by Triumph Marketing LLC on DVD September 28, 2004. In 2006, he starred in Game 6, about the 1986 World Series bid by the Boston Red Sox. He had a cameo in the Tenacious D short film Time Fixers, an iTunes exclusive. The 9-minute film was released to coincide with Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. Keaton reportedly was cast as Jack Shephard in the series Lost, with the understanding that the role of Jack would be a brief one. Once the role was retooled to be a long-running series regular, Keaton withdrew. The part was then given to actor Matthew Fox. The show ran for six seasons, with the Shephard role continuing throughout. Keaton starred in the 2007 television miniseries The Company, set during the Cold War, in which he portrayed the real-life CIA counterintelligence chief James Jesus Angleton. The role garnered Keaton a 2008 Screen Actors Guild nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries. Keaton provided the voice of Ken in Toy Story 3 (201