James Dean was an American movie actor in the 1950s, who was tragically killed in a motor accident when he was rising to stardom in Hollywood. He had acted in only seven films among which only three have his name in title credits. He is the first actor to be nominated for Oscars after death. In fact, he was posthumously nominated twice for the Oscar awards. He became a somewhat cult figure in United States after his death mainly because of his sparkling performance in films like Giant and Rebel without a Cause. He had a public image almost as a rebel without a cause.

James Dean was born in Marion in the State of Indiana on 8 February 1931. Winton Dean, who was a farmer turned dental technician, was his father and Mildred Dean his mother. When he was five years old, his family shifted to Los Angeles. After some years, his mother died, and he returned to Indiana to live with his aunt and uncle in their farm. After dabbling unspectacularly with studies in school and college for some time, he enrolled in an acting workshop conducted by James Whitmore. Soon he was appearing on television commercials. He found himself in acting in some plays and even doing minor roles in films. In 1951, he moved to New York for searching greener pastures in movie industry. He acted in several TV serials, while working in a studio. His roles in TV serials got noticed because of his excellent realistic acting, especially for his emotive facial expressions.

After some small roles in some films, he got his break in the film East of Eden, directed by Elia Kazan. It was an adaptation of a famous novel with the same name, written by John Steinbeck. Dean gave a whole-hearted performance. It was for this film that he received the Oscar nomination for the best actor award posthumously, the first of its kind in Oscar history.

Soon James Dean received another role in a memorably titled film, Rebel without a Cause. The film is said to provide an accurate depiction of the restlessness of youth. Dean gave a stirring performance in the film, which led him to his third, and what proved to be the last, movie, Giant. In this film, he played supporting role to the major stars of the time, Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. The film was released only after his death. He won Oscar nomination posthumously for this film also.

Dean was very much interested and actively involved in car racing also. He bought a Porsche 356 Speedster and then a Porsche 550 Spyders and began to participate in some racing competitions. He even got some prizes. After the shooting of Giant, while he was going to participate in a racing competition, his car collided with another car on the highway and he died.