Richard Tiffany Gere ( GHEER; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began appearing in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and a starring role in Days of Heaven (1978). Gere came to prominence with his role in the film American Gigolo (1980), which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol. Gere's other films include An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), The Cotton Club (1984), Internal Affairs (1990), Pretty Woman (1990), Sommersby (1993), First Knight (1995), Primal Fear (1996), The Jackal (1997), Red Corner (1997), Runaway Bride (1999), Unfaithful (2002), Shall We Dance? (2004), I'm Not There (2007), Hachi: A Dog's Tale (2009), Arbitrage (2012) and Norman (2016). For portraying Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago (2002), he won a Golden Globe Award.