Kirk Thomas Cameron (born October 12, 1970) is an American actor, author, evangelist, television host, documentarian and producer. He first gained fame as a teen actor playing Mike Seaver on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains (1985–1992), a role for which he was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards.
Cameron made several other television and film appearances through the 1980s and 1990s, including the films Like Father Like Son (1987) and Listen to Me (1989). In the 2000s, he portrayed Cameron "Buck" Williams in the Left Behind film series and Caleb Holt in the drama film Fireproof (2008). His 2014 film, Saving Christmas, was panned by critics and made the IMDb Bottom 100 List within one month of its theatrical release, with some critics even labelling it one of the worst movies ever made. He has produced films since then, including Lifemark (2022), which was commercially successful. In 2022, he wrote a faith-based children's book, As You Grow, which he read at libraries the following year during a well attended nationwide book tour.
Cameron is an evangelical Christian who partners with Ray Comfort in the evangelistic ministry The Way of the Master, and the co-founder of The Firefly Foundation with his wife, actress Chelsea Noble.
Cameron was born in Panorama City, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles. He is the oldest of four children born to parents Barbara (née Bausmith) and Robert Cameron, a retired schoolteacher. His three sisters are Bridgette, Melissa, and fellow actor Candace, who portrayed D.J. Tanner on the television sitcom Full House. Cameron attended school on the set of Growing Pains, instead of a public or private school having many other students. However, he went to some classes at Chatsworth High School during production breaks and graduated with honors in their class of 1988. Cameron was an atheist in his early teens. When he was 18, during the height of his career on Growing Pains, he became a born-again Christian.
Cameron began acting at age nine, and his first job was in an advertisement for a breakfast cereal. His first starring role was at age 13, in the television series Two Marriages. At this age, he appeared in several television shows and films. He became famous in 1985 after being cast as Mike Seaver in the ABC television sitcom Growing Pains. In the series, Mike would eventually have a girlfriend named Kate MacDonald, played by Chelsea Noble, Cameron's future wife. Cameron was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his role, and subsequently became a teen heartthrob in the late 1980s, while appearing on the covers of several teen magazines, including Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, 16 and others. At the time, he was making $50,000 a week. He was also in a 60-second Pepsi commercial during Super Bowl XXIV. Cameron also guest-starred in the 1988 Full House episode "Just One of the Guys", in which he played Cousin Steve of D.J. Tanner, the role played by Cameron's sister, Candace.Cameron went on to star in many films, including 1987's Like Father Like Son (a body-switch comedy with Dudley Moore), which was a box office success. His next theatrical film, 1989's Listen to Me, performed poorly at the box office. When Growing Pains ended in 1992, Cameron went on to star in The WB sitcom Kirk, which premiered in 1995 and ended two years later. In Kirk, Cameron played Kirk Hartman, a 24-year-old who has to raise his siblings. Cameron and Noble also worked together on Kirk.
In around 1990, Cameron, along with his wife, Chelsea Noble, founded The Firefly Foundation, which runs Camp Firefly, a summer camp that gives terminally ill and seriously ill children and their families a free week's vacation.
Cameron mostly left mainstream film and television, though a decade after Growing Pains ended, he starred in a television reunion film, The Growing Pains Movie, in 2000, and another one, Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers, in 2004. Cameron reunited with the cast of Growing Pains for a CNN Larry King Live interview, which aired on February 7, 2006, in conjunction with the Warner Bros. release of the complete first season of Growing Pains on DVD. Aside from this, Cameron has often worked in Christian-themed productions, among them the post-Rapture films: Left Behind: The Movie; Left Behind II: Tribulation Force; and Left Behind: World at War, in which he plays Cameron "Buck" Williams. Cameron's wife Noble also starred in the film series, playing Hattie Durham. Cameron has worked with Cloud Ten Pictures, a company which produces Christian-themed films, and has starred in several films, including The Miracle of the Cards. He also appeared in the 2008 drama film, Fireproof, which was produced by Sherwood Pictures. The film was created on a budget of $500,000, with Cameron as the lead actor, portraying Captain Caleb Holt. Though it was a low-budget film, the film grossed $33,415,129 and was a box office success. It was the highest grossing independent film of 2008.
Cameron relates in his autobiography that he once turned down a television series because, as he put it, he was unwilling to spend more time being a make-believe husband and father to an on-set wife and children than he would spend with his actual wife and children, choosing instead to appear in or produce films and television shows, whose content is in keeping with his faith-based values. He also tours the nation to give marriage and family seminars and talks.
In 2012, Cameron was the narrator and host of the documentary film Monumental: In Search of America's National Treasure. On its opening day, March 27, 2012, Monumental grossed $28,340. The film stayed in theaters until May 20, 2012, grossing a total of $1.23 million. On April 11, 2012, Cameron was honored by Indiana Wesleyan University, and inducted into their Society of World Changers during a ceremony in which he spoke on IWU's campus.
In 2013, Cameron announced he would be the host of the film Unstoppable slated to premiere September 24, 2013. A trailer for the film was blocked on Facebook, with Cameron speculating that it was due to the film's religious content. Facebook subsequently removed the block, stating it was the result of a mistake by an automated system and a spam site previously registered at the same web address.
Cameron starred in and produced the 2014 family film Mercy Rule, in which he plays a father who tries to save his small business from lobbyists, while supporting his son, who dreams of being a pitcher, in Little League Baseball. Cameron's real-life wife plays his wife in the film, which was released direct-to-video and via digital download. Also in 2014, Cameron starred in the Christian-themed comedy film, Saving Christmas. The film was panned by critics, and winning the 2014 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay. Cameron also won the award for Worst Actor and Worst Screen Combo, which he won with "his ego". Cameron starred in Extraordinary, a 2017 film made by Liberty University students. That was the first such film to be released nationally, for one night in September 2017. The film follows the dream of a marathon running Liberty professor, whose cross-country trek strains his body and marriage. In August 2017, Cameron and Noble created the online marriage course, The Heart of Family: Six Weeks to a Happier Home and a Healthier Family.
In the 2018 documentary film Connect, Cameron helps parents with navigating the dangers of technology, including social media, for their children. In 2019, he appeared in an episode of Fuller House, the Netflix sequel to Full House.
In 2021, Cameron started hosting the show, Takeaways with Kirk Cameron, on TBN. He interviews guests, many of whom are well-known, to discuss pressing issues for Christians with the goal of finding takeaways that everyday Christians can use in their own lives.
In 2022, Cameron starred in the commercially successful anti-abortion film Lifemark. Cameron played Jimmy Colton, the adoptive father of David Colton. That same year, Cameron wrote a faith-based children's book, As You Grow, published by Brave Books, which follows the life of a tree as it grows and shares "biblical wisdom through the seasons of life." The following year, Cameron embarked on a nationwide book tour, reading his book to often over-capacity crowds at many libraries.