Kim Basinger's Real Name: Kimila Ann Basinger

Quick answer: Kim Basinger's documented original name is Kimila Ann Basinger. The New Georgia Encyclopedia uses that form and dates her birth to December 8, 1953, in Athens, Georgia. Britannica independently records the same date and Athens, Georgia, birth, and uses the professional name Kim Basinger without the fuller form in the extract consulted (New Georgia Encyclopedia; Britannica).

Real name and early life

She is known professionally as Kim Basinger. The New Georgia Encyclopedia, in an article by Mary Downing Koon, says Kimila Ann Basinger was born in Athens on December 8, 1953, to Ann and Don Basinger, the third of five children. Her father, it says, was a jazz musician before becoming a loan-company manager, and her mother was a former model, dancer, and swimmer. After dance classes as a child, Basinger won the Athens Junior Miss pageant in 1971 and was offered a modeling contract by Eileen Ford of the Ford Agency in New York City. Britannica independently dates the birth to December 8, 1953, in Athens, Georgia, and notes that she took dance lessons as a young child.

Career highlights

The New Georgia Encyclopedia says she became a working model in New York, including work as the Breck Shampoo girl, then moved to Los Angeles in 1976 to act. Early television credits, it says, included The Six Million Dollar Man and Charlie's Angels, the series Dog and Cat (1977), and the television film Katie: Portrait of a Centerfold (1978). Feature credits listed there include Hard Country (1981), the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983), The Natural (1984), 9 1/2 Weeks (1986), Batman (1989), and L.A. Confidential (1997), for which she won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for best supporting actress in 1998. Britannica independently records her as a top 1980s movie star and as an Academy Award winner for best supporting actress.

Name notes for searchers

Kimila Ann Basinger is the documented original name in the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Britannica uses Kim Basinger without that fuller form in the extract consulted. The professional name is Kim Basinger. Searchers looking for the L.A. Confidential Oscar winner or the star of Never Say Never Again are usually aiming at the same person.