Woody Harrelson
Woody Harrelson | |
|---|---|
 Woody Harrelson, April 2007 | |
| Born | Woodrow Tracy Harrelson |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1985–present |
| Spouse(s) | Nancy Simon (1985-1986) Laura Louie (2008-present) |
Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor.
Harrelson's breakthrough role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd. Notable film characters include basketball hustler Billy Hoyle in White Men Can't Jump, bowler Roy Munson in Kingpin, serial killer Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers, magazine publisher Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt, country singer Dusty in A Prairie Home Companion, bounty hunter Carson Wells in No Country for Old Men, Tallahassee in Zombieland and blind piano player/meat salesman in Seven Pounds.
Early life
Harrelson was born in Midland, Texas, the son of Diane Lou (née Oswald) and Charles Voyde Harrelson, who divorced in 1964; he has two brothers, Jordan and Brett, the latter of whom is a professional motorcycle racer. In 1979, in San Antonio, Federal Judge John H. Wood, Jr. was shot and killed by rifle fire by Woody's father Charles Harrelson, who was a freelance contract killer.[1] He was convicted and eventually died during his life sentence in maximum security prison.[1] Harrelson shares his birthday with his father. While contributing greatly to America through his acting career and role as an activist, his or any American's greatest contribution in the history of the country might be the public disclosure of his father's involvement in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Harrelson grew up in Lebanon, Ohio with his mother. Harrelson attended Lebanon High School, working through much of high school as a wood-carver at Kings Island amusement park. He later attended Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana, where he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He received a bachelor of arts in theater arts and English in 1983.
Career
Television career
Harrelson is widely known for his work on the NBC sitcom Cheers. He played bartender Woody Boyd, who replaced Coach (played by Nicholas Colasanto, who died in the third season). He joined the cast in season four and lasted eight seasons on the show. For this role, Harrelson has been nominated for five Emmy Awards, winning only one in 1989. His character of Boyd was said to be from Hanover, Indiana, the town where Harrelson attended college.
In 1999, Harrelson guest-starred in the Cheers spin-off success Frasier, in which he reprised the role of Woody Boyd. Harrelson was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for this performance.
He appeared in several 2001 episodes of Will and Grace as Grace's new boyfriend.
Movie career
After the end of Cheers, Harrelson pursued a film career. His first was Wildcats, a football comedy in 1986 with Goldie Hawn. Harrelson became friends with Wesley Snipes and starred with him in the box-office hit White Men Can't Jump and Money Train.
In 1993 he had a starring role opposite Robert Redford and Demi Moore in the drama Indecent Proposal. After that film's success, Harrelson played Mickey Knox in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers and Dr. Michael Raynolds in the Michael Cimino film The Sunchaser. In 1996, he starred in the comedy Kingpin.
Harrelson's career took off when he starred in the Milos Forman film The People vs. Larry Flynt, in which he played Larry Flynt, a pornographic publisher and founder of Hustler magazine. The film was a success and Harrelson's performance as Larry Flynt was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Actor. The Oscar went to Geoffrey Rush for his performance in Shine.
After that, Harrelson was cast more serious film roles. He starred in the 1997 war film Welcome to Sarajevo and also in 1997 had a featured role as Sergeant Schumann in Wag the Dog. In 1998, Harrelson starred in the thriller Palmetto and played Sergeant Keck in The Thin Red Line, a war film nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1999.
Harreslon made other films such as The Hi-Lo Country and portrayed Ray Pekurny in the teen comedy EDtv. Also in 1999, he appeared as boxer Vince Boudreau in the Ron Shelton film Play It to the Bone.
Harrelson didn't appear in movies again until 2003 when he co-starred as Security Guard Gary in the comedy film Anger Management. He appeared in the action film After the Sunset and the comedy She Hates Me.
In 2005, Harrelson was in The Big White and North Country. Also in 2005 he appeared as Kelly Ryan, husband of a contest-obsessed woman in the film The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. Harrelson made two films in 2006, the animated film version of Free Jimmy and also A Scanner Darkly. In 2007 he played Carter Page III, escort of privileged Washington D.C. women, in the film The Walker.
In the Oscar-winning 2007 crime thriller No Country for Old Men, Harrelson had a small but key role as Carson Wells, a bounty hunter. The film won Best Picture and Best Director for Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. Harrelson also won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast, along with Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Kelly Macdonald.
In 2008, Harrelson appeared in several films, among them the Will Ferrell basketball comedy Semi-Pro and the Will Smith stark drama Seven Pounds. In 2009, he co-starred in the horror comedy Zombieland. His upcoming projects include The Messenger, Defendor, Pinkville, The Other Side, Bunrako and 2012 as Charlie Frost, a man who warns everyone about the end of the world. The film is directed by Roland Emmerich. All have been scheduled for release in 2009.
Stage career
In 1999 Harrelson directed his own play, Furthest from the Sun, at the theater de la Juene Luene in Minneapolis. He followed next in Roundabout's Broadway rival at the N. Richard Nash played The Rainmaker in 2000, Sam Shepard's The Late Henry Moss in 2001, Joan Kolvenbach's On an Average Day opposite Kyle MacLachlan in London's West End in the fall of 2002, and in the summer of 2003, Harrelson directed the Toronto premiere of Kenneth Lonergang's This is Our Youth at the Berkley Street Theater. In the winter of 2005/2006 Harrelson returned to London's West End, starring in Tennessee Williams' Night of the Iguana at the Lyric Theater.
Personal life
In 1985, Harrelson married Nancy Simon, daughter of playwright Neil Simon, in Tijuana. The two intended to divorce the following day, but the storefront marriage/divorce parlor was closed when they had returned to it, and the two remained married for ten months.[2]
On December 28, 2008, Harrelson married Laura Louie, his girlfriend since 1987. The couple have three daughters, Deni Montana (born February 28, 1993), Zoe Giordano (born September 22, 1996), and Makani Ravello (born June 3, 2006). When announcing Makani's birth, the couple referred to the three as their "goddess trilogy". Laura is his former assistant and a co-founder of Yoganics, an organic food delivery service.[3]
Harrelson's father, a convicted career criminal and hitman, died in Federal Supermax Prison. Harrelson tried to have his father's final conviction for murdering a federal judge reversed, but failed. His father was convicted of murder for hire once before which was related to illegal drug sales, an event which occured in the late 1960's.
Activist work
Harrelson is a supporter and an activist for the legalization of marijuana and hemp.[4] On June 1, 1996, he was arrested in Lee County, Kentucky after he symbolically planted four hemp seeds to challenge the state law which did not distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana. Harrelson won the case. Since 2003, Harrelson serves as a member on NORML's advisory board.[5]
Harrelson is also an environmental activist. He once scaled the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco with members of North Coast Earth First! group to unfurl a banner that read, "Hurwitz, Aren't ancient redwoods more precious than gold?" in protest of Maxxam Inc/PALCO CEO Charles Hurwitz, who once stated, "He who has the gold, makes the rules".[4] [citation needed]
He once traveled to the west coast in the U.S. on a bike and a domino caravan with a hemp oil-fueled biodiesel bus (the subject of the independent documentary, Go Further) and narrated the documentary Grass. Harrelson briefly owned an oxygen bar in West Hollywood called "O2". He is a peace activist and has often spoken publicly against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Harrelson is also a vegan and raw foodist. He did not eat Twinkies for his movie Zombieland, replacing them with vegan faux-Twinkies made from cornmeal.[6] He now lives on Maui, Hawaii in a mostly self-sustained community.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Wildcats | Krushinski | film debut |
| 1987 | Bay Coven | Slater | |
| 1988 | Cool Blue | Dustin | Direct-to-video |
| Mickey's 60th Birthday | Woody Boyd | TV-Movie | |
| Killer Instinct | Charlie Long | TV Movie | |
| 1990 | L.A. Story | Harris' Boss | Cameo |
| Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme | Lou the Lamb | Cameo | |
| 1991 | Doc Hollywood | Hank Gordon | |
| Ted & Venus | Homeless Vietnam Veteran | Cameo | |
| 1992 | White Men Can't Jump | Billy Hoyle | |
| Cheers: Last Call! | Woody Boyd | NBC special | |
| 1993 | Indecent Proposal | David Murphy | |
| 1994 | Natural Born Killers | Mickey Knox | |
| The Cowboy Way | Pepper Lewis | ||
| I'll Do Anything | Ground Zero Hero | ||
| 1995 | Money Train | Charlie | |
| 1996 | The People vs. Larry Flynt | Larry Flynt | Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role |
| Kingpin | Roy Munson | ||
| The Sunchaser | Dr. Michael Reynolds | ||
| 1997 | Wag the Dog | Sgt. William Schumann | |
| Welcome to Sarajevo | Jordan Flynn | ||
| 1998 | The Thin Red Line | Sgt. Keck | |
| Palmetto | Harry Barber | ||
| The Hi-Lo Country | Big Boy Matson | ||
| 1999 | Play It to the Bone | Vince Boudreau | |
| EDtv | Ray Pekurny | ||
| Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me | Himself | Cameo | |
| Grass | Himself | Narrator | |
| 2003 | Anger Management | Galaxia/Security Gary | |
| Go Further | Himself | documentary | |
| Scorched | Jason 'Woods' Valley | ||
| 2004 | After the Sunset | Stanley "Stan" P. Lloyd | |
| She Hate Me | Lenald Power | ||
| 2005 | North Country | Bill White | |
| The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio | Leo "Kelly" Ryan | Limited | |
| The Big White | Raymond "Ray" Barnell | ||
| 2006 | Free Jimmy | Roy Arnie (voice) | English language version released in 2008 |
| A Scanner Darkly | Ernie Luckman | ||
| A Prairie Home Companion | Dusty | ||
| 2007 | The Walker | Carter Page III | |
| No Country for Old Men | Carson Wells | ||
| Battle in Seattle | Dale | ||
| The Grand | One Eyed Jack Faro | ||
| Nanking | Bob Wilson | ||
| 2008 | Semi-Pro | Ed Monix | |
| Sleepwalking | Randall | ||
| Transsiberian | Roy | ||
| Surfer, Dude | Jack | ||
| Management | Jango | ||
| Seven Pounds | Ezra Turner | ||
| 2009 | The Messenger | Anthony 'Tony' Stone | |
| Zombieland | Tallahassee | ||
| Bunraku | The Bartender | post-production | |
| 2012 | Charlie Frost | post-production | |
| Defendor | Arthur Poppington | post-production |
References
- ^ a b "Woody Harrelson's Father Dies in Prison". Associated Press. ABC News. 2007-05-21.
- ^ "Woody Harrelson". hollywood.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-09.
whimsically married in Tijuana in 1985 intending to divorce the following day, but when the couple returned to the storefront marriage/divorce parlor, they found it closed because it was Sunday; marriage lasted 10 months; Harrelson would later tell USA TODAY's Tom Green, "We had to get a summary dissolution through Jacoby and Meyers. I think at the time Neil was a little bit worried I might try to go after her money.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - ^ "Woody Harrelson Gets Married in Hawaii". US Weekly. 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
wife Laura Louie: born c. 1965; co-founded Yoganics, an organic food home delivery service in 1996
- ^ a b "Woody Harrelson - Cannabis activist and personal freedom supporter". e-stoned.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-09.
among other prominent activists opposed to marijuana prohibition. He has consistently lent his celebrity status to the cause of reforming marijuana laws. Harrelson Backs Medical Pot Growers in California
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - ^ "NORML Advisory Board". NORML. August 25, 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIBQn3hZTN0&feature=sub Woody harrelson Talks About Eating Faux Twinkies. Jimmy Kimmel Live
External links
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- Woody Harrelson Myspace.com
- No Country for Old Men Official Canadian site