Michael Biehn was born on July 31, 1956 in Anniston, Alabama, grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, and at age 14 moved with his family to Lake Havasu, Arizona, where he won a drama scholarship to the University of Arizona. He left prematurely two years later to pursue an acting career in Hollywood. His first big role was as a psychotic fan stalking Lauren Bacall in The Fan and later appeared in The Lords of Discipline. He hit the big-time when he was cast as Kyle Reese, the man sent back through time to stop Arnold Schwarzenegger in James Cameron's The Terminator. This established a good working relationship with Cameron, a relationship that should have catapulted Biehn to international stardom. He starred in Cameron's subsequent films, Aliens and The Abyss, the latter a standout performance as unstable Navy SEAL officer Lt. Coffey. In the 1990s he starred in films like Navy Seals, K2 and was particularly memorable as Johnny Ringo in Tombstone. Biehn is married and the father of four sons.
Frequently works with James Cameron. Has played a Navy SEAL 3 times: The Abyss, Navy Seals, and The Rock. In James Cameron's The Terminator, Michael Biehn gets bitten on the hand by another character. He has suffered the same on-screen injury in every James Cameron film he's been in. Replaced actor James Remar as Corporal Dwayne Hicks in Aliens. He almost didn't get the role of Kyle Reese in The Terminator because at his first audition he spoke in a Southern accent. He had just come another audition for a stage production of "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" and had not been able to shake the accent, and the producers didn't want the character of Reese to seem regionalized. After calling and talking with Biehn's agent, they gave him another audition and he got the part. Attended the University of Arizona on a drama scholarship. He left school two years early to pursue his career in Hollywood. Has played a soldier 10 times in films. Children with Carlene Olson: twins, Devon and Taylor, born 1984. Children with Marsh: Caelan Michael (b. 1992) and Alexander (b. 19 March 2003). Was nominated for best actor at the 1986 "Saturn Awards" for Aliens and won a special award at the 1989 "Saturn Awards" for The Abyss. Said that he didn't get to interact with Arnold Schwarzenegger very much while filming the original The Terminator. Ironically, fans often ask him what it was like to work with Arnold. Has to turn down the role of McManus in The Usual Suspects as he was already contracted to William Friedkin's Jade. Was cast as Peter Parker/Spiderman in James Cameron's abandoned "Spiderman" in 1994. The film was deemed too technically challenging at the time, and Cameron opted to make True Lies instead. James Cameron considered using him as the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which would have been a reversal of the roles Biehn previously had with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the original. Eventually, however, Cameron decided against the idea on the basis that it would have been too confusing for the audience. Filmed a cameo in Terminator 2: Judgment Day in which Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) fantasizes a meeting with him, but the scene was cut from the theatrical release; it later became available in the director's cut. Biehn said in an interview that he wasn't surprised that the scene was cut, seeing as how it had little to do with the film's overall story. Has appeared in 5 films with Bill Paxton: The Lords of Discipline, The Terminator, Aliens, Navy Seals, and Tombstone. Surname pronounced "Bean" Has the same birthday as Wesley Snipes, Michael Klesic, J.K. Rowling, Dean Cain, and Geoffrey Lewis. Is a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity Has been in two movies with Ed Harris, in both of which he played a Navy SEAL: The Abyss and The Rock. A shot of him as Kyle Reese in the movie The Terminator was reproduced as the cover-art of the video game Metal Gear. Biehn was chosen as a model as he was then at the peak of his fame, and would be the ideal actor to play Metal Gear's protagonist Solid Snake had Metal Gear been an action movie. The studio pushed hard for an Academy Award nomination for Biehn as best supporting actor in James Cameron's The Abyss (1989) - an award he ultimately didn't win or even got nominated for.