Kirk Cameron

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Image:BuckWilliams.jpg Kirk Thomas Cameron (born October 12, 1970) is an American actor who was popular during the late 1980s and early 1990s for his role as "Mike Seaver" on the sitcom Growing Pains.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Private life
4 Partial filmography
5 External links
- 5.1 Interviews
- 5.2 Web sites

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Early life

Cameron was born in Panorama City, California to Robert Cameron (who also works as an actor) and Barbara Bausmith, and is the brother of Full House actress Candace Cameron. He is said to have been named after the character "Captain James T. Kirk" of the famed television series Star Trek.Template:Fact

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Career

Cameron appeared in several smaller film and television roles in the early 1980s, gaining reknown after being cast in the 1985 television series, Growing Pains. He subsequently became a teen idol in the late 1980s, when he appeared on the covers of several teen magazines, including Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, 16 and others.

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 he was "about 17 years old" (though others say in 1990) Cameron, who was not raised in a church-going family, converted to evangelical Christianity and began to protest what he perceived as immorality in Growing Pains: he insisted that castmate Julie McCullough be fired for having posed in Playboy four years earlier, and that the 1989-90 season (depicting the engagement of his and McCullough's characters) be retconned into a dream. Although this did not happen, Julie was dismissed from the show and her character was written out as having left Mike at the altar. He also insisted that several episodes be rewritten to avoid what he perceived as objectionable themes and plotlines, and publicly described the show's producers as "pornographers"; three of them quit in protest (Cameron has since apologized, according to the 2003 article "The Rebirth of Kirk Cameron" in Christianity Today).

Cameron's fame dwindled after Growing Pains was cancelled in 1992. He has since left mainstream film, and works almost exclusively in religious-themed productions, among them the post-Rapture movies 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 movies, and has starred in several of their other films, including "Miracle of Cards".

Currently, he partners with evangelist Ray Comfort in training Christians in evangelism. They have a ministry together called The Way of the Master, which includes a television/video series whose primary aim is to show Christians how to share their faith "simply, effectively, Biblically ... the way Jesus did" [1]. Cameron and Comfort conduct interviews with a variety of people. They also conduct a live daily radio show with Minnesota talk show host Todd Friel.

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, the first 22 episodes of the series, on Region 1 DVD. On March 17, 2006, Comfort and Cameron were featured on a segment of Nightline, being interviewed by Martin Bashir about their ministry.

On April 16, 2006 (Easter Sunday), Kirk took part in a Sunrise Service at Orlando's SeaWorld Theme Park. The Backstreet Boys' Brian Littrell was also in attendance. It was the second time that Kirk participated in the event, which has taken place every year since 1977.

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Private life

Cameron met his wife, actress Chelsea Noble, on the set of "Growing Pains", where she played his girlfriend. They married on July 20, 1991 and have six children: 4 adopted: Jack (b. 1996), Isabella (b. 1997), Anna (b. 1998), Luke (b. 2000). 2 biological: Olivia Rose (b. July 18, 2001); James Thomas (b. April 13, 2003).

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Partial filmography

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
2005	Left Behind: World at War	Buck Williams
2002	Left Behind II: Tribulation Force	Buck Williams
2001	Left Behind: The Movie	Buck Williams
1989	Listen to Me	Tucker Muldowney
1987	Like Father Like Son	Chris Hammond