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Richard Tiffany Gere is a noted American actor who began acting in the 1970s and came to prominence in 1980 for his role in American Gigolo, which established him as a sought-after actor in Hollywood. Gere went on to star in several hit films including Days of Heaven, An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman, Primal Fear and Chicago, for which he won a Golden Globe Award as Best Actor, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the Best Cast.

Gere was raised by Methodist parents and his passion for Buddhism began when he traveled to Nepal in 1978 with the Brazilian painter, Sylvia Martins. He is a practicing Buddhist and a staunch supporter of the Dalai Lama. Gere is also an advocate for human rights in Tibet. He is a co-founder of the Tibet House and creator of The Gere Foundation. Gere actively supports Survival International, an organization dedicated to protecting the rights and lands of tribal people throughout the world.

Gere was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 31st of August 1949 and is a descendant of Mayflower pilgrims. In 1967, he graduated from North Syracuse Central High School, where he excelled at gymnastics and music, playing the trumpet. He attended the University of Massachusetts on a gymnastics scholarship, majoring in philosophy, but did not graduate, leaving after two years.

Gere first worked professionally at the Provincetown Playhouse on Cape Cod in 1971 where he starred in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Gere's first major acting role was in the original London stage version of Grease in 1973. He began appearing in Hollywood films in the mid 1970s, co-starring in the thriller Looking For Mr. Goodbar (1977) and playing the leading role in director Terrence Malick's well-reviewed 1978 film, Days of Heaven.

In 1980, Gere appeared in the Broadway production of Bent. He became a major star that year with the film American Gigolo followed by the romantic drama An Officer and a Gentleman, which grossed almost $130 million in 1982.

However, after 1982, Gere's career was dogged by several box office failures. His career was somewhat resurrected after the release of both Internal Affairs and Pretty Woman in 1990. He went on to star in several successful films throughout the 1990s, including Sommersby (1993), Primal Fear (1996), and Runaway Bride (1999) which reunited him with his Pretty Woman co-star Julia Roberts.

Richard also took a leading role in the 1997 action movie "The Jackal", playing as Declan Mulqueen, which also starred Bruce Willis as The Jackal.

In 2002, he appeared in three major releases: the horror thriller The Mothman Prophecies, the drama Unfaithful and the Academy Award-winning film version of Chicago, for which he won a Golden Globe as "Best Actor. Gere's 2004 ballroom dancing drama, Shall We Dance, was also a smashing hit which grossed $170 million worldwide though his next film, 2005's Bee Season, was a commercial failure.

Gere was Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals' "Man of the Year" for 2006. The next year, he co-starred with Jesse Eisenber and Terrence Howard in The Hunting Party, a comic thriller in which he played a journalist in Bosnia. The same year he also starred with Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Cate Blanchett in Todd Haynes' semi-biographical film about Bob Dylan, I'm Not There.

Most recently, Gere co-starred with Diane Lane in the romantic drama Nights in Rodanthe, released in 2008. The film was widely slammed by critics (even