Kurt Vogel Russell born March 17 1951 is an American actor He began acting on television at the age of 12 in the western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters 19631964 In the late 1960s he signed a tenyear contract with The Walt Disney Company where he starred as Dexter Riley in films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes 1969 Now You See Him Now You Dont 1972 and The Strongest Man in the World 1975 According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies he became the studios top star of the 1970s Russell was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor Motion Picture for his performance in Mike Nichols Silkwood 1983 In the 1980s he starred in several films directed by John Carpenter including antihero roles such as army heroturnedrobber Snake Plissken in the futuristic action film Escape from New York 1981 its sequel Escape from LA 1996 the horror film The Thing 1982 and the kungfu comedy action film Big Trouble in Little China 1986 For his portrayal of rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley in Elvis 1979 he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Russell starred in various other films including Used Cars 1980 The Best of Times 1986 Overboard 1987 Tango Cash 1989 Backdraft 1991 Tombstone 1993 Stargate 1994 Executive Decision 1996 Breakdown 1997 Vanilla Sky 2001 Miracle 2004 Sky High 2005 Death Proof 2007 The Hateful Eight 2015 and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood 2019 He also appeared in the Fast Furious franchise as Mr Nobody having starred in Furious 7 2015 The Fate of the Furious 2017 and F9 2021 portrayed Ego in the Marvel Cinematic Universe MCU installments Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 2017 and What If 2021 and subsequently portrayed Santa Claus in The Christmas Chronicles 2018 and The Christmas Chronicles 2 2020