Kirk Thomas Cameron (born October 12, 1970)[1] is an American actor, author, evangelist, television host, documentarian and producer.

[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] He first gained fame as a teen actor playing Mike Seaver on the ABC sitcom Growing Pains (1985–1992), a role for which he was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards.

His 2014 film, Saving Christmas, was panned by critics and made the IMDb Bottom 100 List within one month of its theatrical release.

[13] Cameron is an evangelical Christian who partners with Ray Comfort in the evangelistic ministry The Way of the Master, and the co-founder of The Firefly Foundation with his wife, actress Chelsea Noble.

Cameron was born in Panorama City, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.

[14] He is the oldest of four children born to parents Barbara (née Bausmith) and Robert Cameron, a retired schoolteacher.

[26] In the series, Mike would eventually have a girlfriend named Kate MacDonald, played by Chelsea Noble, Cameron's future wife.

Tanner, the role played by Cameron's sister, Candace.Cameron went on to star in many films, including 1987's Like Father Like Son[31] (a body-switch comedy with Dudley Moore), which was a box office success.

[43] Cameron relates in his autobiography that he once turned down a TV series because, as he put it, he was unwilling to spend more time being a make-believe husband and father to an on-set wife and children than he would spend with his actual wife and children, choosing instead to appear in or produce films and TV shows, whose content is in keeping with his faith-based values.

[48][49] On April 11, 2012, Cameron was honored by Indiana Wesleyan University, and inducted into their Society of World Changers during a ceremony in which he spoke on IWU's campus.

Facebook subsequently removed the block, stating it was the result of a mistake by an automated system and a spam site previously registered at the same web address.

[51] Cameron starred in and produced the 2014 family film Mercy Rule, in which he plays a father who tries to save his small business from lobbyists, while supporting his son, who dreams of being a pitcher, in Little League Baseball.

[57][58] In the 2018 documentary film Connect, Cameron helps parents with navigating the dangers of technology, including social media, for their children.

[13] After converting to Protestant Christianity, Cameron stated in his autobiography, he came to feel that some of his scenes were antithetical to his newfound faith, and inappropriate for the family viewers that were the show's intended audience.

Cameron has stated that this was not due to any animosity on his part toward any of his former cast members, but an outgrowth of his and his wife's desire to start a new life away from the entertainment industry and, as he put it, "the circus he had been in for the past seven years".

[65] Prior to the premiere of The Growing Pains Movie in 2000, for which the entire main cast reunited, Cameron described his regrets over how his relationship with his castmates changed after his religious conversion during production of the series, saying, "I definitely kind of made an about-face, going toward another aspect of my life.

[72][73] Cameron and Comfort participated in a televised debate with atheists Brian Sapient and Kelly O'Conner of the Rational Response Squad, at Calvary Baptist Church, in Manhattan, on May 5, 2007.

At issue was the existence of God, which Comfort stated at various times during his ministry that he could prove scientifically without relying on faith or the Bible.

[83] On March 2, 2012, Cameron stated on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, when asked about homosexuality, that it is "unnatural, it's detrimental and ultimately destructive to so many of the foundations of civilization".

"[90] As record-breaking levels of COVID-19 infections in December 2020 overwhelmed hospitals,[91] including in Southern California,[92][93][94] Cameron organized at least two gatherings of dozens of people for maskless Christmas caroling protests against enhanced restrictions to combat the second wave of the pandemic.

[95] Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County Public Health Director, denounced Cameron's decision to hold large gatherings as "very irresponsible and very dangerous.

[97] Cameron also held an outdoor maskless New Year's Eve event in Malibu, despite a request by state senator Henry Stern that he should stay home.