Eugene Allen 'Gene' Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is a retired American actor and novelist. He was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two, he has also won three Golden Globes and two BAFTAs in a career that spanned four decades.

He first came to fame in 1967 with his performance as Buck Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde. His major subsequent films include I Never Sang for My Father (1970); his role as Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection (1971) and its sequel French Connection II (1975); The Poseidon Adventure (1972); The Conversation (1974); A Bridge Too Far (1977); his role as arch-villain Lex Luthor in Superman (1978), Superman II (1980), and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987); Under Fire (1983); Twice in a Lifetime (1985); Hoosiers (1986); No Way Out (1987); Mississippi Burning (1987); Unforgiven (1992); Wyatt Earp (1994); The Quick and the Dead, Crimson Tide and Get Shorty (all 1995); Enemy of the State (1998); The Royal Tenenbaums (2001); and his final film role before retirement, in Welcome to Mooseport (2004).