Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is a retired American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AFI Life Achievement Award.
The elder son of Kirk Douglas and Diana Dill, Douglas earned his Bachelor of Arts in drama from the University of California, Santa Barbara. His early acting roles included film, stage, and television productions. Douglas first achieved prominence for his performance in the ABC police procedural television series The Streets of San Francisco, for which he received three consecutive Emmy Award nominations. In 1975, Douglas produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, having acquired the rights to the Ken Kesey novel from his father. The film received critical and popular acclaim and won the Academy Award for Best Picture, earning Douglas his first Oscar as one of the film's producers.
Douglas went on to produce films including The China Syndrome (1979) and Romancing the Stone (1984), for which he received the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy, and The Jewel of the Nile (1985). Douglas received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone's Wall Street (1987), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor (a role he reprised in the sequel Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps in 2010). Other notable roles include in Fatal Attraction (1987), The War of the Roses (1989), Basic Instinct (1992), Falling Down (1993), The American President (1995), The Game (1997), Traffic (2000), and Wonder Boys (2000).
In 2013, for his portrayal of Liberace in the HBO film Behind the Candelabra, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. Douglas starred as an ageing acting coach in the Netflix comedy series The Kominsky Method (2018–2021), for which he won a Golden Globe Award for Best ctor—television series musical or omedy. He has portrayed Hank Pym in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with Ant-Man (2015).
Douglas has received notice for his humanitarian and political activism. He sits on the board of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, is an honorary board member of the anti-war grant-making foundation Ploughshares Fund, and he was appointed as a United Nations Messenger of Peace in 1998. He has been married to actress Catherine Zeta-Jones since 2000.
In July 2025, Douglas said that he was largely retired from acting, saying "I realized I had to stop [...] I did not want to be one of those people who dropped dead on the set". He added that while he was attached to one additional project and did not fully rule out future projects "if something special came up", he had no plans to work regularly again.
Known For

America's Burning
Self - Narrator (voice)
2024

Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Self - Dr. Hank Pym
2023

Michael Douglas: The Prodigal Son
Self - Actor
2023

Downwind
2023

Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
Gordon Gekko (archive footage)
2021

Sword-and-Sandal: The Story of the Period Epic
Self - Actor (archive footage)
2019

Ant-Man and the Wasp
Dr. Hank Pym
2018

Animal World
Anderson
2018

Once upon a time on Wall Street
Self
2017

Unlocked
Eric Lasch
2017

Ken San
Self
2016

Ant-Man
Dr. Hank Pym
2015

Hollywood Banker
Self (archive footage)
2014

Beyond the Reach
Madec
2014

Richard Attenborough: A Life in Film
Self
2014

And So It Goes
Oren Little
2014

Last Vegas
Billy Gerson
2013

The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers
Yitzhak Rabin (voice)
2013

Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
Self
2013

Behind the Candelabra
Liberace
2013

Close Up
Self (archive footage)
2012

Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
(archive footage)
2012

Haywire
Alex Coblenz
2011
The Streets of the Invisibles
Steve Keller (voice)
2011

Once Upon a Time… One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
2011
Asylum: An Empty Nest For The Mentally Ill?
Self
2010

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Gordon Gekko
2010

Solitary Man
Ben Kalmen
2009

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
Uncle Wayne
2009
The Day After Peace
Self
2009

A Call to Arms
Self (voice)
2009

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Mark Hunter
2009

Trumbo
Self
2007

Dinosaurs Alive
Narrator
2007

King of California
Charlie
2007

Black Rain: Making The Film
Self
2006

You, Me and Dupree
Mr. Thompson
2006

The Sentinel
Pete Garrison
2006

Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema
Self
2005

A Father… A Son… Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Self
2005

Nos Bastidores de Hollywood
Self
2005

Declaration of Independence
Self
2003

The In-Laws
Steve Tobias
2003

It Runs in the Family
Alex Gromberg
2003
Direct Order
Narrator
2003

Don't Say a Word
Dr. Nathan Conrad
2001

One Night at McCool's
Mr. Burmeister
2001

Traffic
Robert Wakefield
2000

Inside Traffic: The Making of 'Traffic'
Self
2000

Wonder Boys
Grady Tripp
2000

One Day in September
Self - Narrator (voice)
1999

Get Bruce!
Self
1999

A Perfect Murder
Steven Taylor
1998

Completely Cuckoo
Self
1997

The Game
Nicholas Van Orton
1997

The Ghost and the Darkness
Charles Remington
1996

The American President
Andrew Shepherd
1995

Disclosure
Tom Sanders
1994

Falling Down
D-Fens
1993

Basic Instinct
Detective Nick Curran
1992

Shining Through
Ed Leland
1992

The Earth Day Special
Self
1990
If Dolphins Could Talk
Host
1990

The War of the Roses
Oliver Rose
1989

Black Rain
Nick Conklin
1989
The World's Greatest Stunts: A Tribute to Hollywood Stuntmen
Self
1988

Wall Street
Gordon Gekko
1987

Fatal Attraction
Dan Gallagher
1987

A Chorus Line
Zach
1985

The Jewel of the Nile
Jack T. Colton
1985

Romancing the Stone
Jack T. Colton
1984

The Star Chamber
Steven Hardin
1983

It's My Turn
Ben Lewin
1980

Running
Michael Andropolis
1979

The China Syndrome
Richard Adams
1979

Coma
Dr. Mark Bellows
1978

TVTV Looks at the Oscars
Self
1976

Hassles and Hangups
Narrator
1973

The Streets of San Francisco
Steven Keller
1972

Napoleon and Samantha
Danny Arlington Williams III
1972

When Michael Calls
Craig
1972

Summertree
Jerry
1971

Adam at Six A.M.
Adam Gaines
1970
Looking Through Water

Franklin
Benjamin Franklin · (8 episodes)
2024

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Dr. Hank Pym
2023

Il était une fois Champs-Élysées
Self (archive footage) · (1 episode)
2022

What If...?
Hank Pym / Yellow Jacket (voice) · (1 episode)
2021

What If...?
Dr. Hank Pym / Ant-Man (voice) · (1 episode)
2021

Marvel Studios Legends
Dr. Hank Pym (archive footage) (uncredited) · (3 episodes)
2021

Basic Instinct: Sex, Death & Stone
Self
2020

Total Excess: How Carolco Changed Hollywood
Self
2020

Deauville et le rêve américain
Self
2020

Visible: Out on Television
Self · (5 episodes)
2020

Green Eggs and Ham
Guy-Am-I (voice) · (23 episodes)
2019

The Kelly Clarkson Show
Self · (1 episode)
2019

Forman vs. Forman
Self - Forman's Producer (archive footage)
2019

Still Laugh-In: The Stars Celebrate
Self
2019

It Takes a Lunatic
Self
2019

Avengers: Endgame
Hank Pym
2019

The Kominsky Method
Sandy Kominsky · (22 episodes)
2018

Michael Douglas: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival
Guest
2018

GRAND PRIX Driver
Narrator · (4 episodes)
2018

The Untameable Kirk Douglas
Self - Actor
2017

Ocean Vet
Narrator (voice) · (11 episodes)
2016

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self · (1 episode)
2015

The Late Late Show with James Corden
Self · (1 episode)
2015

The Late Late Show with James Corden
Self - Guest · (1 episode)
2015

Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
Self · (1 episode)
2014

Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self · (2 episodes)
2014

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self · (1 episode)
2014

And the Oscar Goes To...
Self (archive footage)
2014

Finding Your Roots
(1 episode)
2012

Honest Trailers
Hank Pym (archive footage) · (1 episode)
2012

The Jonathan Ross Show
Self · (1 episode)
2011

14 Actors Acting
Self
2010

America: The Story of Us
Self · (7 episodes)
2010

Miloš Forman: What Doesn't Kill You…
Self
2009

Making of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Self
2009

Fog City Mavericks
Self
2007

The Graham Norton Show
Self · (2 episodes)
2007

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Self · (1 episode)
2005

The China Syndrome: Creating a Controversy
Self
2004

The China Syndrome: A Fusion of Talent
Self
2004

Tell Them Who You Are
Self
2004

The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Self · (1 episode)
2003

Celebrities Uncensored
Self · (1 episode)
2003

Real Time with Bill Maher
Self · (1 episode)
2003

Jimmy Kimmel Live!
(1 episode)
2003

Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway
Self · (1 episode)
2002

In Search of Peace
Narrator (voice)
2001

The Directors: Milos Forman
Self
2000

Beckmann
Self · (1 episode)
1999

Forever Hollywood
Self
1999

Will & Grace
Detective Gavin Hatch · (1 episode)
1998

The Magic Hour
Self · (1 episode)
1998

The View
Self · (6 episodes)
1997
Leute heute
Self · (1 episode)
1997

Inside the Actors Studio
Self · (1 episode)
1994

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
(4 episodes)
1992
Pebble Mill
Self · (1 episode)
1991

LIVE with Kelly and Mark
(1 episode)
1988

LIVE with Kelly and Mark
Self - Guest · (2 episodes)
1988
cascadeurs de stars
Self
1988

Electric Blue 29
(archive footage)
1988
Goldene Kamera Verleihung
Self · (1 episode)
1984
Goldene Kamera Verleihung
Self - Laudatio · (1 episode)
1984

Champs-Elysées
Self · (3 episodes)
1982

Entertainment Tonight
Self · (1 episode)
1981

Wetten, dass..?
Self · (1 episode)
1981

The Hollywood Greats
(1 episode)
1977

Saturday Night Live
Self - Host · (1 episode)
1975

People's Choice Awards
Self - Presenter · (1 episode)
1975

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
Self · (1 episode)
1975

The Streets of San Francisco
Steve Keller · (119 episodes)
1972

Hail, Hero!
Carl Dixon
1969
CBS Playhouse
(1 episode)
1966

Cast a Giant Shadow
Jeep Driver (uncredited)
1966

The F.B.I.
Jerry Williams · (1 episode)
1965

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Self · (3 episodes)
1962

The Mike Douglas Show
Self · (1 episode)
1961

Tony Awards
Self - Presenter · (2 episodes)
1956

The Oscars
Self · (5 episodes)
1953

This Is Your Life
Self · (1 episode)
1952

Bambi-Verleihung
Self · (1 episode)
1948

Golden Globe Awards
Self - Presenter · (3 episodes)
1944

Golden Globe Awards
Self - Nominee · (2 episodes)
1944

Golden Globe Awards
Self - Audience Member · (1 episode)
1944

Golden Globe Awards
Self - Winner · (2 episodes)
1944

Golden Globe Awards
Self - Cecil B. DeMille Award · (1 episode)
1944