Burton Leon Reynolds, Jr. was born of Cherokee Indian descent in Lansing, Michigan. He spent a couple of years growing up in the Ozark area near Fort Leonard Wood while his father served in the Army. After his father was deployed to Europe, he, his mother and sister returned to Lansing. In 1946, after his Army discharge, Reynolds’ father moved the family to Riviera Beach, Florida.

When Burt was in seventh grade, his school moved him to a larger school system where he felt lost and began hanging out with greasers and skipping school. By age 14, though he decided to give football a try and worked hard at it. He earned his letterman’s sweater and was named to the county all-star team. He continued to play football in high school, earning scholarship offers and being named to First Team All State.

Reynolds attended Florida State University on a football scholarship and became an all-star halfback. His prospects of a great college career and potential professional football player were looking good until the first game of the season when Burt tore the cartilage in his knee. That Christmas break from college, Reynolds had a serious car accident in which he had to be extricated from the car. He suffered multiple, serious injuries including the loss of his spleen.

With his football career over, his father encouraged him to enroll in the local community college and become a parole officer. While attending Palm Beach Junior College, Burt was introduced to the theatre, where he won the 1956 Florida State Drama Award for his performance in Outward Bound. This award included a scholarship to Hyde Park Playhouse in New York for the summer. While working at the theatre, Reynolds met Joanne Woodward who helped him procure an agent. He was cast in Tea and Sympathy and received favorable reviews.After the summer tour, he took acting classes with such students as Frank Gifford, Carol Lawrence, Red Buttons, and Jan Murray. He continued to work odd jobs while waiting for acting opportunities. His Broadway debut was in Look, We’ve Come Through; his first television role was in the series, Riverboat. He had a role in Gunsmoke for three years in the early 1960’s. Reynolds’ first film debut was in the movie Angel Baby. Then he was advised by Clint Eastwood to do low budget spaghetti westerns, so his first was Navajo Joe.

Burt Reynolds’ first breakout role came in 1972 in the film, Deliverance, which is deemed the role that made him a star. During the 1970’s, most of his roles were based on southern living, such as White Lightning. In 1974, he starred in The Longest Yard, a role for which he was well-known. In 1978, he earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the 1980’s he became typecast in movies based on his Smokey and the Bandit role including a sequel and The Cannonball Run. In the early 1990’s, Burt earned an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in the television series, Evening Shade. In the mid 1990’s, he made a comeback in the movies Striptease and Boogie Nights. He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in Boogie Nights, and won a Golden Globe for his role in the film.In 2005, he co-starred in a remake of The Longest Yard with Adam Sandler in the lead role that Reynolds had in 1974. He also co-starred in the remake of The Dukes of Hazzard, in the role of Boss Hogg. In 2007, Burt was awarded the Taurus Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Stuntman Awards ceremony.

While Burt was romantically involved with several women over the course of his career – including Dinah Shore, Sally Field, and Chris Evert – he was only married twice. In the 1960’s was married Judy Carne for two years, with no children; in 1988 he married Loni Anderson, which lasted 5 years and produced an adopted son.