Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. At 12, he began acting in the Western TV series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963–1964). In the late 1960s, he signed a ten-year contract with The Walt Disney Company, where he starred as Dexter Riley in films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975). For his portrayal of rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley in Elvis (1979), he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, Russell became the studio's top star of the 1970s.

Russell was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for his performance in Mike Nichols's Silkwood (1983). Also in the 1980s, he starred in several films directed by John Carpenter in which he played anti-hero roles: the futuristic action film Escape from New York (1981), its sequel Escape from L.A.(1996), the horror film The Thing (1982), and the kung-fu comedy action film Big Trouble in Little China (1986).