Bill Paxton

Bill Paxton
Paxton in August 2011
Born	William Paxton (1955-05-17) May 17, 1955 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, director
Years active	1974–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, Weird Science, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic. Paxton starred in the HBO series Big Love (2006–2011) and was nominated for an Emmy Award for the miniseries Hatfields & McCoys.

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, and Southwest Texas State University (San Marcos).^{[citation needed]}

Career

Paxton in April 2010

Paxton has appeared in such films as Weird Science, Aliens, Apollo 13, Near Dark, Twister, Titanic, One False Move 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 also appears in the Limp Bizkit video Eat You Alive.

In 1988, Paxton and the vocalist/guitarist Andrew Todd Rosenthal formed a short-lived rock duo Martini Ranch.

Personal life

Paxton was in the crowd waving when President John F. Kennedy emerged from the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, 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 his father's shoulders.

Filmography

Film and television roles

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Crazy Mama	John
1980	Fish Heads	Main Character	Short film
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	TV miniseries
1985	Commando	Intercept Officer
1985	Weird Science	Chet Donnelly
1986	Miami Vice	Detective Vic Romano	TV series (1 episode: "Streetwise")
1986	Fresno	Billy Joe Bobb
1986	Aliens	Private Hudson	Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1987	Near Dark	Severen	Nominated-Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1989	Slipstream	Matt Owens
1989	Next of Kin	Gerald Gates
1989	Back to Back	Bo Brand
1990	Brain Dead	Jim Reston
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
1992	One False Move	Dale 'Hurricane' Dixon
1992	Trespass	Vince
1993	Monolith	Tucker
1993	Indian Summer	Jack Belston
1993	Boxing Helena	Ray O'Malley
1993	Tombstone	Morgan Earp
1994	Frank and Jesse	Frank James
1994	True Lies	Simon	Nominated-Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1994	Future Shock	Vince
1995	Last Supper, TheThe Last Supper	Zachary Cody
1995	Apollo 13	Fred Haise	Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1996	Twister	Bill Harding	Nominated-Saturn Award for Best Actor
1996	Evening Star, TheThe Evening Star	Jerry Bruckner
1997	Titanic	Brock Lovett	Nominated-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
1997	Traveller	Bokky
1998	Bright Shining Lie, AA Bright Shining Lie	John Paul Vann	Television film Nominated-Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film
1998	Simple Plan, AA Simple Plan	Hank
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	Nominated-Saturn Award for Best Director
2002	Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams	Dinky Winks
2003	Ghosts of the Abyss	Narrator
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
2005	Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D	Edgar Mitchell (voice)	IMAX film
2006-2011	Big Love	Bill Henrickson	TV series (53 episodes) Nominated-Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama (2007-2008, 2010) Nominated-Satellite Award for Best Actor - Television Series Drama (2006-2007, 2009)
2007	Good Life, TheThe Good Life	Robbie
2011	Haywire	John Kane
2011	Tattoo		Director
2012	Hatfields & McCoys	Randolph "Ole Ran'l" McCoy	TV miniseries (3 episodes) Nominated–Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie Pending-Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2012	Shanghai Calling	Donald
2013	The Colony	Mason
2013	2 Guns	Earl	Post production
2014	All You Need Is Kill	General Farrell Bartolome	Post production

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