Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor.
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. Harrelson's father, 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.
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.
In the November 12, 2009 episode of the Comedy Central show The Colbert Report, Harrelson was interviewed by Stephen Colbert to promote his 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.
In 1993 he had a starring role opposite Robert Redford and Demi Moore in the drama Indecent Proposal, which earned him a worst supporting actor Razzie Award. 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.
After that, Harrelson was cast in 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.
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 Hate Me.
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 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.
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 1960s.
Arts & Culture
