Richard Gere (born 1949) is an American actor known primarily for his leading-man good looks. (People magazine chose him as "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1999.)
His breakthrough film was 1977's Looking for Mr. Goodbar. Other notable Gere performances were in the films American Gigolo (1980), An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Internal Affairs (1990), Pretty Woman (1990), Unfaithful (2002) and Chicago (2002).
A practicing Buddhist, Gere helped to found Tibet House, an organization devoted to preserving Tibetan culture against assimilation by Communist China.