Paul Newman had a long and successful acting career that spanned over 50 years from the the 1950's and into the 2000's. He won one best actor Oscar and was nominated seven times for best actor. He started acting as a teenager on the stage and then joined the navy during World War 2. In 1951 he joined the Actor's Studio where her learnt his craft. His work on stage led to his first film role The Silver Chalice, not a good film. It was in the boxing film, Somebody Up There Likes Me that he first gained critical notice. That film led to his Oscar nominated performance in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof opposite the more estabilshed Elizabeth Taylor.
This was followed up in 1957 by The Long Hot Summer where he met his wife Joanne Woodward and together they made 18 films and were married for over 50 years. His role in the Hustler was more complex than most films and showed his range of acting skills. In Hud, he played a very unsympathetic character. Perhaps one of his most iconic roles was in Cool Hand Luke and was very much a film of its time, but has stood the test of time. Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid was a hugh commercial success. THe combination between him and Robert Redford was one of the first buddy films. THey played together again in the Sting which also had a good ragtime score and was again very successful commercially.
By the early 1980's he was being recognised as a serious character actor with films like Absence Of Malice and The Verdict, both of which he was Oscar nominated for. After 25 years he repised his role from the Hustler in The Colour Of Money but this time mentoring Tom Cruise. It was for this film, that he finally won his Best Actor Oscar. This was not his best film, but more a recognition for his body of work. After this he did less acting and focused more on his charity work and motor racing. His final film role was ROad To Perdition in 2002.
Outside of acting he also set up a salad dressing company that gives all its profts to charity. He was also a racing driver. He also directed 5 films during his career, all of which started his wife Joanne Woodward, of which Rachel, Rachel was nominated for Best Picture.