A distinctly handsome leading man, Val Kilmer has been known as difficult to work with from a number of major directors. Trying valiantly to maintain a firm hold on his career, he has often turned down offers for big projects like Blue Velvet, Dirty Dancing, and Indecent Proposal for personal and artistic reasons. He began acting in high school with friend Kevin Spacey before going on to the Hollywood Professional School and eventually even Juilliard. He acted on the New York stage and in Shakespeare festivals before his film debut in 1984 as the rock idol Nick Rivers in the spy spoof Top Secret! Throughout the '80s, he played several hunky supporting roles, such as the older roommate in Real Genius and the cocky "Ice Man" in Top Gun. He had a leading role in Willow, where he met his wife, British actress Joanne Whalley; they both appeared in Kill Me Again a year later and had two children before splitting up in 1996. Kilmer's film breakthrough finally came in 1991, for his portrayal of rock icon Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors. As the notorious rocker, Kilmer provided his own singing voice for some of the songs on the soundtrack. He went on to play other American icons in his next two films: gunslinger Doc Holliday in Tombstone and the spirit of Elvis in True Romance. Due to his persistent questioning and commenting, the actor didn't get along very well with directors during this time in his career, particularly with Michael Apted for Thunderheart and Joel Schumacher for Batman Forever. Openly refusing to repeat the Bruce Wayne role, Kilmer broke his Batman contract and secured his own star status by appearing with both Robert De Niro and Al Pacinofor the crime thriller Heat. This time around, he met with a more accommodating (or at least more tolerant) director, Michael Mann. Working with another acting veteran, he co-starred with Michael Douglasfor the hunting adventure The Ghost and the Darkness. Unfortunately, his next few films were disappointments, particularly The Saint and The Island of Dr. Moreau. He switched gears a few times with little success, turning to romantic drama in At First Sight and to science fiction in Red Planet, but neither seemed to fit his dramatic intensity. He was especially ill-suited for the role as the drunken dad in Joe the King. After lending his booming voice to the role of Moses in the animated film The Prince of Egypt, he returned to form in The Salton Sea as a tormented drug addict. In 2003, he lined up quite a few projects, including the crime thriller Mindhunters and the drama Blind Horizon. In the same year he earned a starring role as another aggressive American icon, the legendary adult film star John Holmes, for the biographical drama Wonderland. All Movie Guide