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, blind piano player/meat salesman in
Seven Pounds and as Charlie Frost in the movie
2012.
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. Woody's father Charles Harrelson, who was a freelance
contract killer, was arrested for the killing.
He was convicted and eventually died during his life sentence in maximum security prison.
Harrelson shares his birthday with his father.
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 became 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 once 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.
In the November 12, 2009 episode of the Comedy Central show
The Colbert Report, Harrelson was interviewed by Stephen Colbert to promote his upcoming movie
The Messenger. In response to Colbert's questioning of his support for the troops, Harrelson agreed to let Colbert shave his head on camera.
Movie career
After the end of
Cheers, Harrelson pursued a film career. His first movie had been
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 alongside
Randy Quaid and
Vanessa Angel.
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 and
Roland Emmerich's
2012 as Charlie Frost, a man who warns of the end of the world. His upcoming projects include
The Messenger,
Defendor,
Pinkville,
The Other Side, and
Bunrako. 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.
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.
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 occurred in the late 1960's.
Activist work
Harrelson is a supporter and an activist for the legalization of
marijuana and
hemp.
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.
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".
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.
[www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIBQn3hZTN0&feature=sub Woody harrelson Talks About Eating Faux Twinkies. Jimmy Kimmel Live] In October 2009, he was conferred an honorary degree by
York University for his contributions in the fields of environmental education, sustainability, and activism.
[Activist, actor Woody Harrelson receives honorary degree at York U convocation]
He now lives on Maui, Hawaii in a mostly self-sustained community.
Filmography
