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Kirk Thomas Cameron is an American actor best-known
for his role as Mike Seaver on the television situation
comedy, Growing Pains, as well as several other
television and film appearances as a child actor.
Recently, he portrayed the lead roles in the
Left Behind film series and in the 2008 drama film,
Fireproof.
Cameron is also an active Christian evangelist. Cameron
is currently partnered with Ray Comfort in the
evangelical ministry
The Way of the
Master, and often appears on the radio show Wretched
Radio. He stated that his main priorities in life are:
"God, family, career - in that order," and he says that
this decision has had negative consequences on his
career. Cameron was born in Panorama City,
California. His parents are, father, Robert Cameron, a
middle school teacher, and mother, Barbara Bausmith. He
is the brother to Bridgette, Melissa, and Candace
Cameron, who is most notable for the role of D. J.
Tanner on the television sitcom,
Full House.
Cameron and his wife, actress Chelsea Noble, were
married on July 21, 1991. They now have six children,
four of whom were adopted: Jack (born 1996), Isabella
(born 1997), Anna (born 1998), and Luke (born 2000); and
two biological: Olivia Rose (born July 18, 2001) and
James Thomas (born April 13, 2003). Cameron
began acting at the age of nine, appearing in television
commercials and guest roles. His first starring role was
at the age of ten in the television series Two
Marriages. He became famous after being cast as "Michael
Seaver" in the 1985 television series Growing Pains, for
which he received two Golden Globe nominations. He
subsequently became a teen idol in the late 1980s, while
appearing on the covers of several teen magazines,
including Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, 16 and others. At the
time, he was making $50,000 a week.
Cameron went on to star in a number of films, including
1987's
Like Father Like Son (a body-switch comedy with
Dudley Moore), which was a box office success. His next
theatrical film, 1989's Listen to Me, performed poorly
at the box office. When Growing Pains ended in 1992,
Cameron went on to star in The WB sitcom Kirk which
premiered in 1995 and ended two years later. Cameron met
his wife, actress Chelsea Noble, on the set of Growing
Pains. and they worked together on Kirk. He
has since left mainstream film, though a decade after
Growing Pains ended, he starred in a television reunion
film, The Growing Pains Movie, in 2000, and another one,
Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers, in 2004. Cameron
reunited with the cast of Growing Pains for a CNN Larry
King Live interview which aired on February 7, 2006, in
conjunction with the Warner Brothers release of the
complete first season of
Growing Pains on DVD. Aside from this, Cameron has
often worked in Christian-themed productions, among them
the post-Rapture films Left Behind: The Movie, Left
Behind II: Tribulation Force, and Left Behind: World at
War. He works with Cloud Ten Pictures, a company which
produces Christian-themed films, and has starred in
several of their other films, including The Miracle of
the Cards.
He also appeared in the 2008 drama film,
Fireproof, produced by Sherwood Pictures. The film
was created on a budget of $500,000, with Cameron as the
lead actor, portraying Capt. Caleb Holt. Though it a
low-budget film, the film grossed $33,415,129, and was a
box office success. It was the highest grossing
independent film of 2008. Cameron was once an
atheist, but at age 17, during the height of his career
on Growing Pains, he developed a belief in God. He
became a Christian at age 18. After converting to
Christianity, he began to protest what he perceived as
immoral content in Growing Pains. The cast ostracized
him from their activities. They did not attend his
wedding, nor was he invited to any of theirs. However, a
decade later, Cameron agreed to appear in The Growing
Pains Movie, where the entire major cast reunited with
one another. Cameron said, "It’s a lot less crazy of a
time than when we were teenagers. It’s an opportunity to
begin new friendships as adults, and I’m really looking
forward to that."
Cameron currently partners with fellow evangelist Ray
Comfort, training
Christians in evangelism. Together, they founded the
ministry The Way of the Master, which includes a
television/video series, and a multimedia website. It
formerly featured a radio show known as The Way of the
Master Radio with talk show host Todd Friel, but that
show was cancelled, and a new radio show, Wretched
Radio, was created with Friel as the main host. Cameron
and Comfort both make appearances on the show. Cameron
also appeared on The
O'Reilly Factor on April 12, 2006.
Cameron and Comfort participated in a televised debate
with atheists Brian Sapient and Kelly O'Conner of the
Rational Response Squad, at Calvary Baptist Church in
Manhattan on May 5, 2007. It was moderated by ABC's
Martin Bashir and parts of it were aired on Nightline.
At issue was the existence of God, which Comfort stated
he could prove scientifically, without relying on faith
or the
Bible. The audience composed of both theists and
atheists. Points of contention that were touched upon
included arguments in favor of atheism and evolutionary
theory, and Cameron and Comfort repeatedly referencing
the Ten Commandments and denouncing the theory of
evolution. Kirk Cameron Links
Kirk Cameron
Official Website
Way of the
Master
Kirk
Cameron IMDB Kirk Cameron Trivia
Parents named him after Captain Kirk, the
William Shatner character from the original "Star
Trek" (1966) series. |
