Samuel Timothy "Tim" McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. Many of McGraw's albums and singles have topped the country music charts, leading him to achieve total album sales in excess of 40 million units. He is married to country singer Faith Hill and is the son of former baseball player Tug McGraw. His trademark hit songs include "Indian Outlaw", "Don't Take the Girl", "I Like It, I Love It", "Something Like That", "It's Your Love" (featuring his wife, Faith Hill), and "Live Like You Were Dying".
McGraw had eleven consecutive albums debut at Number One on the Billboard albums charts. Twenty-one singles hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot Country 100 chart. Three singles became the #1 country song of the year ("It's Your Love", "Just To See You Smile", and "Live Like You Were Dying"). He has won 3 Grammys, 14 Academy of Country Music awards, 11 Country Music Association (CMA) awards, 10 American Music Awards and 3 People's Choice Awards. His Soul2Soul II Tour with Faith Hill is the highest grossing tour in country music history, and one of the top five among all genres of music.
McGraw has ventured into acting, with supporting roles in the Billy Bob Thornton film Friday Night Lights and The Kingdom, a lead role in 2006's Flicka and a supporting role in Four Christmases with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon.
Raised by his mother in Start, Louisiana, east of Monroe, McGraw grew up believing his stepfather, Horace Smith, was his birth father. At age eleven, McGraw discovered his birth certificate while searching his mother's closet to find pictures for a school project. After his discovery, his mother revealed that his biological father was Tug McGraw, and took Tim to meet him for the first time. For seven years, Tug denied being Tim's father. Tim was 18 years old when Tug first realized how much Tim looked like him at that age and acknowledged paternity. They remained close until Tug's death in 2004.
As a child, Tim McGraw loved to play competitive sports, including baseball, even though he did not know his biological father was a professional athlete. He attended Northeast Louisiana University, now the University of Louisiana at Monroe, on a baseball scholarship and became a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. During his college period, he learned to play guitar and would frequently perform and sing for tips, although he claims that his roommates often hid the guitar because he was so bad.
His mother, Betty, returned to Jacksonville, Florida in 1987, and Tim followed. He attended Florida Community College at Jacksonville for one term, and occasionally sat in with local bands. In 1989, on the day his hero Keith Whitley died, McGraw dropped out of college to head to Nashville and pursue a musical career.
McGraw's first acting appearance came in a 1995 episode of The Jeff Foxworthy Show, where he played Foxworthy's rival.
In 2004, McGraw played a sheriff in Rick Schroder's independent release Black Cloud. Later in the same year, McGraw received critical acclaim as the overbearing father of a running back in the major studio Texas high school football drama Friday Night Lights. The Dallas Observer said the role was "played with unexpected ferocity by country singer Tim McGraw." The movie went on to gross over $60 million dollars worldwide at the box office and sold millions in the DVD market. Most recently, it was named one of the Top 50 High School Movies of All Time (number 37) by Entertainment Weekly.
McGraw's first lead role was in the 2006 film Flicka, which was released in theatres October 20, 2006. In the remake of the classic book "My Friend Flicka", McGraw played the father, Rob, costarring with Alison Lohman and Maria Bello. The family-friendly movie debuted in the top 10 list and has grossed over 25 Million dollars at the box office. McGraw again achieved critical acclaim for his acting.
Shortly before Flicka opened, McGraw received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His star is located at 6901 Hollywood Blvd. near stars in the sidewalk honoring Julie Andrews, William Shatner and the late Greta Garbo. One of his Flicka co-stars, Alison Lohman, attended the ceremony that included comments from Billy Bob Thornton, McGraw's co-star in the film, Friday Night Lights.
In addition to acting in Flicka, McGraw served as executive producer of the soundtrack album, which was released by his record label, StyleSonic Records, in association with Curb Records and Fox 2000 films. It featured the closing credit song "My Little Girl", one of the first two songs that McGraw recorded that he also co-wrote (the other being "I've Got Friends That Do," both of which were included on Greatest Hits Vol. 2). The song was nominated by the Broadcast Film Critics for "Best Song" in a film, and the movie was nominated in the category "Best Family Film (Live Action). The movie proved to be another huge success in the DVD market and has sold over a million copies, debuting at number 3 on the DVD sales chart.
McGraw also had a small part in the Michael Mann-produced 2007 film The Kingdom. McGraw played a bitter, angered, widower whose wife was killed in the terrorist attack the movie revolves around.
On November 22, 2008, McGraw made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live. He also played "Dallas McVie" in Four Christmases. His house appeared in an episode of CSI with special guest Taylor Swift.
McGraw, a Democrat, has stated that he would one day like to run for public office in the future, possibly for Senate or governor of Tennessee, his (adopted) home state. In the same interview, he praised former President Bill Clinton.
