Editing Jeff Bridges (section)

== Interests ==
=== Music ===
[[File:Actor Jeff Bridges and singer Brian Evans (cropped).jpg|thumb|160px|left|upright|Bridges during a concert in 2016]]
Referring to his career as an actor and his passion for music, Bridges says, "I dug what an actor did, but it took me a while to feel it, to truly appreciate the craft and the preparation. Plus, I was still playing music a lot, and I guess I had a hard time choosing: was I an actor or a musician, or could I be both?"<ref>Guitar Aficionado Magazine – Spring 2010</ref> Bridges studied piano at a young age, strongly encouraged by his mother.<ref name="youtube1">{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qntfBwX6Kgg| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/qntfBwX6Kgg| archive-date=2021-12-11 | url-status=live|title=Gretsch Guitars: Jeff Bridges|date=July 20, 2011|work=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Before his first lead role as an actor he already sold two songs to the acclaimed musician and composer [[Quincy Jones]], who used his "Lost in Space" for the soundtrack of the 1970 film ''[[John and Mary (film)|John and Mary]]'' and let Bridges contribute the vocals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/648166/jeff-bridges-actor-facts|title=8 Surprising Facts About Jeff Bridges|date=July 15, 2021 |publisher=[[Mental Floss]]|access-date=June 5, 2023}}</ref>  While working on the 1980 film ''[[Heaven's Gate (film)|Heaven's Gate]]'', he often played guitar with his co-star, singer-songwriter [[Kris Kristofferson]], between takes.<ref>{{Cite book|last=King|first=Lynnea Chapman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W6HYBAAAQBAJ&q=jeff+bridges+kris+kristofferson&pg=PA23|title=The Coen Brothers Encyclopedia|date=October 10, 2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0-8108-8577-6|language=en}}</ref> His character in ''Crazy Heart'', Bad Blake, was later based partly on Kristofferson. In 1982, he voiced the character of Prince Lír in the animated film [[The Last Unicorn (film)|''The Last Unicorn'']], and in that role sang on two songs, including a duet with [[Mia Farrow]]. He released his debut album ''Be Here Soon'' on January 1, 2000. In 2005, Bridges, known as "The Dude" in the film ''[[The Big Lebowski]]'', showed up at a [[Lebowski Fest]] in Los Angeles singing and playing the film's theme song written by [[Bob Dylan]], "[[The Man in Me|Man in Me]]".

On January 15, 2010, Bridges performed the song "I Don't Know" from ''Crazy Heart'' on ''[[The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien]]''. In the film ''[[The Contender (2000 film)|The Contender]]'', in which he co-starred, Bridges recorded a version of [[Johnny Cash]]'s standard "[[Ring of Fire (song)|Ring of Fire]]" with [[Kim Carnes]] that played over the pivotal opening credits. In February 2010, he was among the nearly 80 musicians to sing on the charity-single remake of ''[[We Are the World]]''.<ref name="badsong" /> On October 24, 2010, Bridges appeared at [[Neil Young]]'s annual ''[[Bridge School Benefit]]'' concert and played a set with singer-songwriter [[Neko Case]]. On April 19, 2011, [[Country Music Television]] announced that Bridges had signed a recording contract with [[Blue Note Records]]/[[EMI Music Group]]. He worked with producer [[T Bone Burnett]] and released his second album, ''[[Jeff Bridges (album)|Jeff Bridges]],'' on August 16, 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cmt.com/news/news-in-brief/1662262/jeff-bridges-signs-to-blue-note-records.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430175736/http://www.cmt.com/news/news-in-brief/1662262/jeff-bridges-signs-to-blue-note-records.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 30, 2011|title=CMT : News : Jeff Bridges signs to Blue Note Records|publisher=[[Country Music Television]]|access-date=April 19, 2011}}</ref> On November 5, 2011, Bridges played Austin City Limits in support of this album.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://video.pbs.org/video/2164600406/|title=Video: Miranda Lambert / Jeff Bridges Watch Austin City Limits Online PBS Video|access-date=May 13, 2012}}</ref>

In 2015, he sang on the album ''Strangers Again'', performing a duet with [[Judy Collins]] of the song "Make Our Garden Grow" from ''[[Candide (operetta)|Candide]]'' by [[Leonard Bernstein]]. The same year, he released an [[Ambient music|ambient]]/[[Spoken word|spoken-word]] album entitled ''[[Sleeping Tapes]]''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Jeff Bridges-Sleeping tapes|url=http://www.dreamingwithjeff.com/#_|website=Dreamingwithjeff.com|access-date=February 1, 2015}}</ref> All proceeds from the album go directly to Bridges' charity No Kid Hungry.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Jeff Bridges Lulls Listeners to Bed With New Album 'Sleeping Tapes'|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jeff-bridges-lulls-listeners-to-bed-with-new-album-sleeping-tapes-20150128|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|date=January 28, 2015|access-date=April 3, 2015}}</ref> Bridges plays many guitars, including the [[Gretsch]] Chet Atkins Country Gentlemen Model G6122-19. In 2020, Bridges partnered with Breedlove Guitars to release his signature Oregon Concerto Bourbon CE with "All In This Together" scrawled across the fretboard.<ref name="youtube1" /> In 2025, he shared a verse and chorus on the song "Men in Bars" from Japanese Breakfast's album [[For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Empire |first=Kitty |date=2025-03-21 |title=Japanese Breakfast: For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) review – a bit too tasteful |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/mar/21/japanese-breakfast-for-melancholy-brunettes-and-sad-women-review-michelle-zauner-a-bit-too-tasteful |access-date=2025-03-24 |work=The Observer |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}}</ref>

=== Photography ===
Bridges has been an amateur photographer since high school. He began taking photographs on film sets during ''Starman'' at the suggestion of co-star [[Karen Allen]] in 1984, with his favorite camera, a [[Widelux]] F8 that his wife bought him.<ref name="camera">{{cite web
| url = http://www.jeffbridges.com/camera.html
| title = Photography
| publisher = JeffBridges.com
| access-date = August 16, 2010
| archive-date = May 29, 2010
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100529040916/http://www.jeffbridges.com/camera.html
| url-status = dead
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Estrin|first=James|date=April 30, 2013|title=The Dude Abides on the Other Side of the Lens|url=https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/the-dude-abides-wide/|access-date=November 13, 2020|website=Lens Blog|language=en-US}}</ref> He published many of these photographs online and in a 2003 book entitled ''Pictures: Photographs by Jeff Bridges''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Pictures|last1=Bridges|first1=Jeff|publisher=powerHouse Books|isbn=1-57687-177-0|location=New York, N.Y.|date=September 1, 2004|oclc=55227934|author-link1=Jeff Bridges}}</ref><ref name="fileman">{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.filemagazine.org/galleries/pictures/pictures.html
 |title        = ''Pictures: Photographs by Jeff Bridges'' : Sam Elliott and Jeff Bridges – "The Stranger" and "The Dude" – ''The Big Lebowski'' (1998)
 |year         = 2004
 |website      = FILE Magazine
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20041030045630/http://www.filemagazine.org/galleries/pictures/pictures.html
 |archive-date = October 30, 2004
|url-status     = dead
 |access-date  = August 12, 2017
}}</ref> In 2013, he received an Infinity Award for his photos from the [[International Center of Photography]] in New York.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last1=Dickerman|first1=Kenneth|last2=Bridges|first2=Jeff|date=December 4, 2019|title=Perspective {{!}} Did you know that Oscar winner Jeff Bridges is an accomplished photographer? Well, he is, and this book shows it.|language=en-US|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2019/12/04/did-you-know-that-oscar-winner-jeff-bridges-is-an-accomplished-photographer-well-he-is-this-book-shows-it/|access-date=November 13, 2020|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> A follow-up book, ''Jeff Bridges: Pictures Volume Two'', was published in 2019.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web|date=December 23, 2019|work=CBS News|title=Jeff Bridges and his passion for photography|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jeff-bridges-and-his-passion-for-photography/|access-date=November 13, 2020|language=en}}</ref>