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Many models make the jump to acting at some point in their careers, but few have done it with the type of success that Kim Basinger has. For more than 40 years now, Basinger has been a star on the big screen that’s even earned herself an Academy Award in the process. Now in her mid 60s, Basinger is still acting regularly with plenty of roles left to offer.

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Basinger was born on December 8, 1953 in the college town of Athens, Georgia to parents that had both been in entertainment. Basinger’s mother was an actress and her father a musician, but Basinger began out more interested in dance and pageantry. They weren’t A-listers, however, living quite modestly. “I just thank God that I didn’t grow up with so much money or privilege,” Basinger said of her early life. “Because you had to create ways to make it happen.” It was her father that got Basinger into the business, but only on an inspirational level. “I never really saw my dad as entertained as when he was just completely blown away by somebody on the television screen or at the movies,” she said. “I think that’s the real reason that I went into acting.”

The latter ended up getting Basinger attention as a model, starting her career by signing with one of the more notable agencies (Ford) in the country. She left Georgia for New York City to start her modeling career, and while there had begun taking acting classes.

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Basinger’s career got started in television, with her first role coming in a guest spot on “Gemini” in 1976. Over the next couple of years, Basinger was one of the most commonly seen guest stars on all of television thanks to shows such as “The Six Million Dollar Man”, “McMillan & Wife” and “Vega$”. She also added a couple of TV movies and miniseries. After the 1981 TV movie “Killjoy”, Basinger has had just two TV roles with a guest voice role on “The Simpsons” and the 2006 TV movie “The Mermaid Chair”.

The 1980s marked the change in Basinger’s career from television guest star to movie star. Her film debut came in 1981’s “Hard Country” in a lead role. The next few years that followed included roles in “Never Say Never Again”, “Fool For Love” and “The Natural”, which earned Basinger a lot of critical acclaim.

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Basinger’s stardom continued throughout the rest of the decade thanks to “9 ½ Weeks” and “No Mercy”, with perhaps her biggest role of the decade coming in 1989. That’s when Basinger was cast as Vicki Vale in the first major “Batman” film, directed by Tim Burton. Though there weren’t as many roles in the 1990s, Basinger continued her momentum.

During the decade, she starred in films such as “The Real MCoy”, “Cool World” and “Wayne’s World 2”. In 1997, Basinger had her final film of the 1990s with “L.A. Confidential”, which earned Basinger her first Oscar nomination, coming in the Best Supporting Actress category. Basinger beat out the likes of Julianne Moore and Joan Cusack to take home the title.

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In the 2000s, Basinger added roles with memorable films like “8 Mile”, “Cellular” and “The Sentinel”. So far in the 2010s, Basinger has starred in “Grudge Match” and “Black November”, with her most recent roles coming in the “Fifty Shades” series with 2017’s “Darker” and 2018’s “Freed”.

Basinger has always had the same approach with acting from the beginning. “With every project I’ve ever done, I’ve always treated it like I’m still in school,” she said. “Each time you try to go a little further, get a little deeper, feel a little more, sculpt it a little better.” She added that “In this business, you can be at the top of the world and at the bottom of the barrel, and you’re grape juice. I’ve been at both ends. It can make you become what you really are.”

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Still, Basinger feels like her career could’ve been a bit more if she had the fire. “I’m extremely competitive with myself,” she said. “But I’m not actively competitive with other women in the business. Which may have been a mistake. I’ve never had someone in my life, agent or otherwise, fighting for me.”

Basinger is still in love with the recognition that she’s received from fans, however. “My hand still shakes when I sign autographs,” she added. “I still go and sit in the movies like everyone else and look up there and go ‘God! Movie stars! Wow!’ And I’m in this business. I walk out there just fascinated, and I always want to stay like that. I’m just a little kid going to the movies, and I don’t ever want to change.”

Basinger was asked in recent years to reflect on her life, and was asked if there were any regrets, or anything she’d like to change. “As with all of us, we all have our challenges,” she said. “Our ups, our downs, our wins and losses, our successes and our failures, but each and every one of us has a journey and through the years I have learned to truly embrace my journey and to be thankful for everything I’ve gone through whether truly positive or trying to get through a tough situation...I truly have no regrets, I try to live everyday in the present not having one foot in the future or one foot in the past. I try to stay in the present everyday and to be grateful and thankful to God for life.”