Early life and education Costner was born on January 18, 1955, in Lynwood, California, and grew up in Compton, California. His parents were William and Sharon Costner. He is the youngest of three boys, the second of whom died at birth. Sharon Rae Costner (née Tedrick) was a welfare worker, and William Costner was an electrician and a utilities executive.Todd Keith, Kevin Costner: The Unauthorized Biography, Ikonprint Publishers: Southwark, London (1991) Costner's father's heritage originates with German immigrants to North Carolina in the 1700s,Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 2001 and Costner also has English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry. Costner was raised Baptist. He was not academically inclined in school, but did play sports (especially football), take piano lessons, write poetry, and sing in the First Baptist Choir. He has said that watching the 1962 film How the West Was Won as a child inspired his love for Western films.
Early life and education Costner was born on January 18, 1955, in Lynwood, California, and grew up in Compton California. His parents were William and Sharon Costner. He is the youngest of three boys, the second of whom died at birth. Sharon Rae Costner (née Tedrick) was a welfare worker, and William Costner was an electrician and a utilities executive.Todd Keith, Kevin Costner: The Unauthorized Biography, Ikonprint Publishers Southwark, London (1991) Costner's father's heritage originates with German immigrants to North Carolina in the 1700s,Stated on Inside the Actors Studio, 2001 and Costner also has English, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh ancestry. Costner was raised Baptist. He was not academically inclined in school, but did play sports (especially football), take pian,o lessons, write poetry, and sing in the First Baptist Choir. He has said that watching the 1962 film How the West Was Won as a child inspired his love for Western films.