Bruce Campbell facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bruce Campbell
Campbell in June 2014.
Born	Bruce Lorne Campbell (1958-06-22) June 22, 1958 (age 66) Royal Oak, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation	Actor filmmaker
Years active	1972–present
Spouse(s)	Christine Deveau ​ ​ (m. 1983; div. 1989)​ Ida Gearon ​ (m. 1991)​
Children	2

Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known best for his role as Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead horror series, beginning with the short movie Within the Woods (1978). He has also featured in many low-budget cult movies, such as Crimewave (1985), Maniac Cop (1988), Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989), and Bubba Ho-Tep (2002).

Campbell had the main roles of the television series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993–1994) and Jack of All Trades (2000), and a recurring role as Autolycus, King of Thieves in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995–1999) and Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–1999). He played Sam Axe on the USA Network series Burn Notice (2007–2013) and reprised his role as Ash for the Starz series Ash vs. Evil Dead (2015–2018). He also appeared in The Escort (2015).

Campbell directed, produced, and featured in the documentaries Fanalysis (2002) and A Community Speaks (2004); co-wrote, directed, produced, and featured in the movie Man with the Screaming Brain (2005); and directed, produced, and featured in a parody of his career My Name Is Bruce (2007).

Campbell is known for frequent collaborations with the aforementioned Raimi, his brother Ted, Josh Becker, and Scott Spiegel.

Early life

Bruce Lorne Campbell was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, on June 22, 1958, the son of advertising executive and college professor Charles Newton Campbell and homemaker Joanne Louise (née Pickens). He is of English and Scottish ancestry, and has an older brother named Don and an older half-brother named Michael. His father was also an actor and director for local theater. Campbell began acting and making short Super 8 movies with friends as a teenager. After meeting future moviemaker Sam Raimi while the two attended Wylie E. Groves High School, they became good friends and collaborators. Campbell attended Western Michigan University and continued to pursue an acting career.

Career

Film

Campbell signing a VHS copy of The Evil Dead.

Campbell and Raimi collaborated with a 30-minute Super 8 version of the first Evil Dead movie, titled Within the Woods (1978), which was initially used to attract investors. He and Raimi got together with family and friends to begin working on The Evil Dead (1981). While featuring as the protagonist, Campbell also had participation with the production of the movie, receiving a co-executive producer credit. Raimi wrote, directed, and edited the movie, while Rob Tapert produced. After an endorsement by horror author Stephen King, the movie slowly began to receive attention and offers for distribution. Four years after its original release, it became the most popular movie in the UK. It was then distributed in the United States, resulting in the sequels Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992).

Campbell was also drawn in the Marvel Zombie comics as his character, Ash Williams. He is featured in five comics, all in the series Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness. In them, he fights alongside the Marvel heroes against the heroes and people who have become zombies (deadites) while in search of the Necronomicon (Book of the Names of the Dead). Campbell also played as Coach Boomer in the movie “Sky High”.

He has appeared in several of Raimi's movies other than the Evil Dead series, notably having cameo appearances in the director's Spider-Man film series. Campbell also joined the cast of Raimi's movie Darkman and The Quick and the Dead, though having no actual screen time in the latter movie's theatrical version. In March 2022, Campbell was announced to have a cameo in Raimi's Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Campbell often performs quirky roles, such as Elvis Presley for the movie Bubba Ho-Tep. Along with Bubba Ho-Tep, he played a supporting role in Maniac Cop and Maniac Cop 2, and spoofed his career in the self-directed My Name is Bruce.

Other mainstream movies for Campbell include supporting or featured roles in the Coen Brothers movie The Hudsucker Proxy, the Michael Crichton adaptation Congo, the movie version of McHale's Navy, Escape from L.A. (the sequel to John Carpenter's Escape from New York), the Jim Carrey drama The Majestic and the 2005 Disney movie Sky High.

Campbell had a major voice role for the 2009 animated adaptation of the children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and a supporting voice role for Pixar's Cars 2.

Campbell produced the 2013 remake of The Evil Dead, along with Raimi and Rob Tapert, appearing in the movie's post-credits scene in a cameo role with the expectation he would reprise that role in Army of Darkness 2. The next year, the comedy metal band Psychostick released a song titled "Bruce Campbell" on their album IV: Revenge of the Vengeance that pays a comedic tribute to his past roles.

Campbell worked as an executive producer for the 2023 movie Evil Dead Rise.

Television

Campbell at WonderCon in 2013

Other than cinema, Campbell has appeared in a number of television series. He featured in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. a boisterous science fiction comedy western created by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse that played for one season. He played a lawyer turned bounty hunter who was trying to hunt down John Bly, the man who killed his father. He featured in the television series Jack of All Trades, set on a fictional island occupied by the French in 1801. Campbell was also credited as co-executive producer, among others. The show was directed by Eric Gruendemann, and was produced by various people, including Sam Raimi. The show was broadcast for two seasons, from 2000 to 2001. He had a recurring role as "Bill Church Jr." based upon the character of Morgan Edge from the Superman comics on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

From 1996 to 1997, Campbell was a recurring guest actor of the television series Ellen as Ed Billik, who becomes Ellen's boss when she sells her bookstore in season four.

He is also known for his supporting role as the recurring character Autolycus ("King of Thieves") on both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, which reunited him with producer Rob Tapert. Campbell played Hercules/Xena series producer Tapert in two episodes of Hercules set in the present. He directed a number of episodes of Hercules and Xena, including the Hercules series finale.

Campbell also obtained the main role of race car driver Hank Cooper for the Disney made-for-television remake of The Love Bug.

Campbell had a critically acclaimed dramatic guest role as a grief-stricken detective seeking revenge for his father's murder in a two-part episode of the fourth season of Homicide: Life on the Street. Campbell later played the part of a bigamous demon in The X-Files episode "Terms of Endearment". He also featured as Agent Jackman in the episode "Witch Way Now?" of the WB series Charmed, as well as playing a state police officer in an episode of the short-lived series American Gothic titled "Meet The Beetles".

Campbell co-featured in the television series Burn Notice, which was broadcast from 2007 to 2013 by USA Network. He portrayed Sam Axe, a beer-chugging, former Navy SEAL now working as an unlicensed private investigator and occasional mercenary with his old friend Michael Westen, the show's main character. When working undercover, his character frequently used the alias Chuck Finley, which Bruce later revealed was the name of one of his father's old co-workers. Campbell was the star of a 2011 Burn Notice made-for-television prequel focusing on Sam's Navy SEAL career, titled Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe.

In 2014, Campbell played Santa Claus for an episode of The Librarians. Campbell played Ronald Reagan in season 2 of the FX original series Fargo. More recently Campbell reprised his role as Ashley "Ash" Williams in Ash vs Evil Dead, a series based upon the Evil Dead series that began his career. Ash vs Evil Dead began airing on Starz on October 31, 2015, and was renewed by the cable channel for second and third seasons, before being cancelled.

In January 2019, Travel Channel announced a new version of the Ripley's Believe It or Not! reality series, with Campbell serving as host and executive producer. The 10-episode season debuted on June 9, 2019.

Voice acting

Campbell is featured as a voice actor for several video games. He provides the voice of Ash in the four games based on the Evil Dead movies series: Evil Dead: Hail to the King, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick, Evil Dead: Regeneration and Evil Dead: The Game. He has expressed his intent to return to the role in an upcoming Evil Dead animated series. He also provided the voice of Ash in Dead by Daylight. Despite the inclusion of his character "Ash Williams" in Telltale Games' Poker Night 2, Danny Webber voices the character in the game, instead of Bruce Campbell.

Campbell also provided voice talent in other titles such as Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, and The Amazing Spider-Man.

He provided the voice of main character Jake Logan for the PC game, Tachyon: The Fringe, the voice of main character Jake Burton for the PlayStation game Broken Helix and the voice of Magnanimous for Megas XLR. Campbell voiced the pulp adventurer Lobster Johnson in Hellboy: The Science of Evil and has done voice-over work for the Codemaster's game Hei$t, a game which was announced on January 28, 2010, to have been "terminated". He also provided the voice of The Mayor for the 2009 movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, the voice of Rod "Torque" Redline in Cars 2, the voice of Himcules in the 2003 Nickelodeon TV series My Life as a Teenage Robot, and the voice of Fugax in the 2006 movie The Ant Bully.

He has a voice in the online MOBA game, Tome: Immortal Arena in 2014. Campbell also provided voice-over and motion capture for Sgt. Lennox in the Exo Zombies mode of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Writing

In addition to acting and occasionally directing, Campbell has become a writer, starting with an autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, published in June 2001. The autobiography was a successful New York Times Best Seller. It describes Campbell's career to date as an actor in low-budget movies and television, providing his insight into "Blue-Collar Hollywood". The paperback version of the book adds details about the reactions of fans during book signings: "Whenever I do mainstream stuff, I think they're pseudo-interested, but they're still interested in seeing weirdo, offbeat stuff, and that's what I'm attracted to".

In addition to his books, Campbell also wrote a column for X-Ray Magazine in 2001, an issue of the popular comic series The Hire, and comic book adaptations of his Man with the Screaming Brain. Most recently he wrote the introduction to Josh Becker's The Complete Guide to Low-Budget Feature Filmmaking.

In late 2016, Campbell announced that he would be releasing a third book, Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B Movie Actor, which will detail his life from where If Chins Could Kill ended. Hail to the Chin was released in August 2017, and accompanied by a book tour across the United States and Europe.

Campbell maintained a weblog on his official website, where he posted mainly about politics and the movie industry. However, the website has since been deleted.

Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival

Since 2014, the Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival, narrated and organized by Campbell, was held in the Muvico Theater in Rosemont, Illinois. The first festival was originally from August 21 to 25, 2014, presented by Wizard World, as part of the Chicago Comicon. The second festival was from August 20 to 23, 2015, with guests Tom Holland and Eli Roth. The third festival took place over four days in August 2016. Guests of the event were Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert and Doug Benson.

Personal life

Campbell married Christine Deveau in 1983; they had two children before divorcing in 1989. He met costume designer Ida Gearon while working on Mindwarp. They married in 1991. They reside in Jacksonville, Oregon.

Campbell is also an ordained minister, and has performed marriage ceremonies.

Filmography

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Film	Role	Director	Notes
1977	It's Murder!	Cop on Bicycle	Sam Raimi
1978	Within the Woods	Bruce		Short film; also executive producer
	Shemp Eats the Moon	Shemp Malone	John Cameron	Short film; also producer
1979	Attack of the Helping Hand	The Hamburger Helper Helping Hand / The Pillsbury Doughboy	Scott Spiegel	Uncredited roles Short film; also cinematographer
1980	The Blind Waiter	The Blind Waiter	Josh Becker and Scott Spiegel	Uncredited role Short film
1981	The Evil Dead	Ash Williams	Sam Raimi	Also executive producer
1982	Cleveland Smith: Bounty Hunter	Cleveland Smith	Josh Becker	Short film
	Blood Simple investor trailer	Julian Marty	Joel and Ethan Coen
1983	Going Back	Brice Chapman	Ron Teachworth
1985	Crimewave	Renaldo 'The Heel'	Sam Raimi	Also co-producer
	Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except	Video newscaster	Josh Becker	Uncredited cameo Also story writer
1987	Evil Dead II	Ash Williams	Sam Raimi	Also co-producer
1988	Maniac Cop	Jack Forrest	William Lustig
1989	Intruder	Officer Howard	Scott Spiegel
	Moontrap	Ray Tanner	Robert Dyke
	Easy Wheels	N/A	David O'Malley	Producer
	The Dead Next Door	Raimi & Commander Carpenter	J.R. Bookwalter	Voices
1990	Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat	Robert Van Helsing	Anthony Hickox
	Maniac Cop 2	Jack Forrest	William Lustig
	Darkman	Final Shemp	Sam Raimi	Cameo
1991	Lunatics: A Love Story	Ray	Josh Becker	Also producer
1992	Eddie Presley	Asylum Attendant	Jeff Burr	Cameo
	Waxwork II: Lost in Time	John Loftmore	Anthony Hickox
	Mindwarp	Stover	Steve Barnett
	The Nutt House	N/A	Adam Rifkin	Writer
	Army of Darkness	Ash Williams	Sam Raimi	Also co-producer
1994	The Hudsucker Proxy	Smitty	Joel and Ethan Coen
1995	Congo	Charles Travis	Frank Marshall
	The Quick and the Dead	Wedding Shemp	Sam Raimi	Deleted scene
	The Demolitionist	Raffle Winner	Robert Kurtzman	Uncredited cameo
1996	Fargo	Soap opera actor on TV	Joel and Ethan Coen
	Escape from L.A.	Surgeon General of Beverly Hills	John Carpenter
1997	In the Line of Duty: Blaze of Glory	Jeff Erickson	Dick Lowry
	Menno's Mind	Mick Dourif	Jon Kroll
	Running Time	Carl	Josh Becker
	McHale's Navy	Virgil	Bryan Spicer
1998	The Ice Rink	Actor	Jean-Philippe Toussaint
1999	From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money	Barry	Scott Spiegel	Direct-to-DVD
2000	Icebreaker	Carl Greig	David Giancola
	Timequest	William Roberts	Robert Dyke
2001	Hubert's Brain	Thompson	Phil Robinson	Voice Short film
	The Majestic	Roland the Intrepid Explorer	Frank Darabont	Cameo
2002	Spider-Man	Ring Announcer	Sam Raimi	Cameo
	Hatred of a Minute	N/A	Michael Kallio	Producer
	Bubba Ho-Tep	Elvis Presley	Don Coscarelli
	Serving Sara	Gordon Moore	Reginald Hudlin
	Fanalysis	Himself	Himself	Documentary; also producer
2003	Intolerable Cruelty	Soap opera actor on TV	Joel and Ethan Coen	Uncredited cameo
2004	The Ladykillers	Humane Society Worker
	Comic Book: The Movie	Himself	Mark Hamill	Direct-to-DVD
	A Community Speaks		Himself & Ida Gearon	Documentary; also producer and editor
	Spider-Man 2	Snooty Usher	Sam Raimi	Cameo
2005	Man with the Screaming Brain	William Cole	Himself	Also writer and producer
	Sky High	Tommy Boomowski / Coach Boomer / Sonic Boom	Mike Mitchell
2006	The Woods	Joe Fasulo	Lucky McKee
	The Ant Bully	Fugax	John A. Davis	Voice
2007	Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters	Chicken Bittle	Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis
	Spider-Man 3	Maître d'	Sam Raimi	Cameo
	My Name Is Bruce	Faux Bruce Campbell	Himself	Also producer
2009	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Mayor Shelbourne	Phil Lord and Christopher Miller	Voice
	White on Rice	Muramoto	Dave Boyle
2011	Cars 2	Rod "Torque" Redline	John Lasseter and Brad Lewis
2012	The Color of Time	Goody	Various
2013	Oz the Great and Powerful	Winkie Guard	Sam Raimi	Cameo
	Evil Dead	Ash Williams	Fede Álvarez	Uncredited cameo; also producer
2015	The Escort	Charles Cooper	Will Slocombe
2021	Black Friday	Jonathan Wexler	Casey Tebo	Also producer
	18½	President Richard Nixon	Dan Mirvish	Voice
2022	Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness	Pizza Poppa Guy	Sam Raimi	Cameo
2023	Evil Dead Rise	Ash Williams	Lee Cronin	Voice; uncredited cameo; also executive producer
TBA	Highly Functional	Chili Youngfield	Marc Forby	Post-production

Television

Video games

2024- Spooky Pinball’s-Evil Dead Callouts

Accolades