Bill Paxton

Bill Paxton
Paxton in August 2011
Born	William Paxton May 17, 1955 (1955-05-17) Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, director
Years active	1974–present
Spouse	Kelly Rowan (1979-80) Louise Newbury (1987-present)

William "Bill" Paxton (born May 17, 1955) is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic. Paxton starred in the HBO series Big Love (2006–2011).

Early life

Paxton was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of Mary Lou (née Gray) and John Lane Paxton, a businessman, lumber wholesaler, museum executive, and occasional actor. He was raised Roman Catholic, his mother's religion. He attended St. Anne's Catholic School, Arlington Heights High School (Fort Worth, Texas), and Southwest Texas State University (San Marcos, Texas).^{[citation needed]}

Career

Paxton in April 2010

After graduation, Paxton moved to Los Angeles and began working for the film director Roger Corman as a set designer. His experiences working behind the camera influenced Paxton's decision to pursue acting, which led him to relocate to New York City where he studied under Stella Adler.

Paxton has appeared in such films as Weird Science, Aliens, Apollo 13, Near Dark, Twister, Titanic and True Lies. Four years after appearing in Titanic, he joined James Cameron on an expedition to the actual Titanic. A film about this trip, Ghosts of the Abyss, was released in 2003.

Paxton has also directed a number of short films, including Fish Heads, which aired during Saturday Night Live's low-rated 1980-1981 season. He directed the feature films Frailty and The Greatest Game Ever Played.

Paxton was cast in a music video for the 1982 Pat Benatar song "Shadows of the Night," in which he appeared as a Nazi radio officer. He appears in Limp Bizkit video Eat You Alive.

In 1988, Paxton and the vocalist/guitarist Andrew Todd Rosenthal formed a short-lived rock duo Martini Ranch. They recorded and released an album entitled Holy Cow, which included input from Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Bob Casale, and Alan Myers, all of whom contributed to the album's modest hit, "How Can the Labouring Man Find Time For Self-Culture?"

Personal life

Paxton married Louise Newbury in 1987, and they have two children. His son James is also an actor.

Paxton was in the crowd waving when President John F. Kennedy emerged from the Hotel Texas in Ft. Worth, Texas, on the morning of his assassination, November 22, 1963. There are pictures at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas where 8-year-old Paxton can be seen astride the shoulders of an unidentified man.

Filmography

Film and television roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Crazy Mama	John
1980	Fish Heads	Main Character	Short
1981	Stripes	Soldier
1983	Night Warning	Eddie
1983	Taking Tiger Mountain	Billy Hampton
1983	Deadly Lessons	Eddie Fox	Television film
1983	Mortuary	Paul Andrews
1983	Lords of Discipline, TheThe Lords of Discipline	Gilbreath
1984	Impulse	Eddie
1984	Streets of Fire	Clyde the Bartender
1984	Terminator, TheThe Terminator	Punk Leader
1985	Early Frost, AnAn Early Frost	Bob Maracek
1985	Atlanta Child Murders, TheThe Atlanta Child Murders	Campbell	Television miniseries
1985	Commando	Intercept Officer
1985	Weird Science	Chet Donnelly
1986	Fresno	Billy Joe Bobb
1986	Aliens	Private Hudson
1987	Near Dark	Severen
1989	Slipstream	Matt Owens
1989	Next of Kin	Gerald Gates
1989	Back to Back	Bo Brand	Main role
1990	Brain Dead	Jim Reston	Main Role
1990	Last of the Finest, TheThe Last of the Finest	Howard 'Hojo' Jones
1990	Navy SEALs	Dane
1990	Predator 2	Jerry Lambert
1991	Dark Backward, TheThe Dark Backward	Gus
1992	Vagrant, TheThe Vagrant	Graham Krakowski	Main role
1992	One False Move	Dale 'Hurricane' Dixon	Main role
1992	Trespass	Vince	Main role
1993	Monolith	Tucker	Main role
1993	Indian Summer	Jack Belston
1993	Boxing Helena	Ray O'Malley	Supporting role
1993	Tombstone	Morgan Earp	Supporting role
1994	Frank and Jesse	Frank James	Main role
1994	True Lies	Simon
1994	Future Shock	Vince
1995	Last Supper, TheThe Last Supper	Zachary Cody
1995	Apollo 13	Fred Haise	Main role
1996	Twister	Bill Harding	Main role
1996	Evening Star, TheThe Evening Star	Jerry Bruckner	Main role
1997	Titanic	Brock Lovett	Supporting role
1997	Traveller	Bokky	Main role
1998	Bright Shining Lie, AA Bright Shining Lie	John Paul Vann	Television film
1998	Simple Plan, AA Simple Plan	Hank	Main role
1998	Mighty Joe Young	Professor Gregory 'Gregg' O'Hara
2000	U-571	Lt. Commander Mike Dahlgren
2000	Vertical Limit	Elliot Vaughn
2001	Frailty	Dad Meiks	Director
2002	Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams	Dinky Winks
2003	Ghosts of the Abyss
2003	Resistance	Major Theodore 'Ted' Brice
2003	Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over	Dinky Winks
2004	Club Dread	Coconut Pete
2004	Haven	Carl Ridley
2004	Thunderbirds	Jeff Tracy
2005	Greatest Game Ever Played, TheThe Greatest Game Ever Played		Director
2006–11	Big Love	Bill Henrickson
2007	Good Life, TheThe Good Life	Robbie
2011	Haywire	John Kane
2011	Tattoo		Director

External links

• Bill Paxton at the Internet Movie Database
• Bill Paxton at the TCM Movie Database
• Bill Paxton at AllRovi
• Bill Paxton and Bill Paxton - Movie Director at The Numbers
• Bill Paxton on National Public Radio in 2005
• Bill Paxton on National Public Radio in 2002