Film and stage actor, born in New York City, USA. He studied at Cornell University and the Juilliard School in New York, and had various stage and television roles before becoming universally known as the star of Superman and its sequels (1978, 1980, 1983, 1987). Later films include Noises Off (1992) and Morning Glory (1994). In May 1995 he became paralysed from the neck downwards and wheel-chair bound following a horse-riding accident, but acted again in films, including a television production of Rear Window (1998). He was also much involved in campaigns supporting handicapped children and paraplegics, and founded the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation in 1998 to promote research into spinal cord injuries, testifying before a Senate subcommittee in favour of federal funding for stem cell research. He directed two television films with health themes, In the Gloaming (1997) and The Brooke Ellison Story (2004). His autobiography Still Me appeared in 1998.