Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942 in Chicago, and spent his childhood in Park Ridge. Of his school life, he confesses that he was never academically inclined, and in his own words was a "late bloomer". He took a few acting classes at the end of his senior year in Ripon College, and decided to choose acting as a career. As with every potential actor, he came to California with the aim of getting voice-over jobs, and landed himself a contract with Columbia Pictures. He started off with insignificant roles and was an uncredited actor for a long time. Not among those to sit idle and wait for the perfect role to fall into his lap, he began to learn carpentry on his own. Who would've thought that a seemingly mundane hobby like this would get one to star in a George Lucas movie? A carpentry job at the Lucas home landed him a decent role in American Graffiti. Another carpentry job, this time at Francis Ford Coppola's office gave him parts in two of the famed director's movies - The Conversation and Apocalypse Now. Harrison Ford must've done something right to impress George Lucas enough, and got the role of Han Solo in Star Wars. Though reluctant at first, Lucas went on to sign him for the role, and as time proved correctly, it wasn't a bad decision at all. Star Wars created a whole new category of successful cinema for itself, and Harrison Ford reprised his Han Solo act in the three sequels - The Empire Strikes Back , Return of the Jedi and The Star Wars Holiday Special. Despite working with Harrison Ford on the super successful Star Wars franchise, George Lucas was not entirely convinced about his ability to play Indiana Jones. It was on the insistence of co-collaborator Steven Spielberg that Harrison Ford landed this role (wonder if his carpentry skills came in handy here too?), and became the most iconic action celluloid character in history. Harrison Ford played Indiana Jones in four movies, beginning with Raiders of the Lost Ark, the prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the latest, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He also appeared in the television series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

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Harrison Ford married his first wife, Mary Marquardt in 1964, and they divorced in 1979. They have two children, Benjamin and Willard. Scriptwriter Melissa Mathison was his second wife. They were married from 1983 to 2004. They have two children, Malcolm and Georgia. Harrison Ford married his long-time partner Calista Flockhart on June 15, 2010. They are parents to Flockhart's adopted son, Liam. He has three grandchildren. His fascination with aviation is well-known. He owns several aircraft and is an honorary member of the organization, Wings of Hope. He is an environmentalist, and is on the board of directors of Conservation International. He has done voice overs for EarthShare.