Born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, Ford’s father was an advertising executive who produced television commercials. Ford failed out of Ripon College, where he was majoring in philosophy. He played a number of minor roles in low-budget movies and was working as a self-taught carpenter when he won a role in "American Graffiti" (1973). Although the movie was a great success, it did not propel Ford to stardom – he was still making his living as a carpenter in 1977 when he landed the role as Han Solo in "Star Wars". But the film that really launched Ford’s career, at age 38, was "Raiders of the Lost Ark", in which he played an archaeology professor. Ford has been married twice and has four children.