Kevin Bacon on 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon'

Kevin Bacon used to be known primarily for his acting work, though today he's arguably just as well known for Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, a game in which players attempt to connect any actor in any film with Kevin Bacon, via co-stars in other films ... with as many as six links. An actor can then be assigned a "Bacon Number," which is the number of links necessary to directly associate the actor with Bacon himself, co-starring in the same production. Although Bacon didn't invent the game, it is permanently associated with him.

The Kevin Bacon game is based on a theory called six degrees of separation, the notion that any human on Earth can be connected to any other via social connections (find a "friend of a friend" six times over, and you can span the globe).

So what does Kevin Bacon, who is celebrating his 59th birthday today,  think of all this? In 2012, the actor gave a TEDx Talk about the situation, touching on his life, career, and eventual philanthropy related to the game. Enjoy: