Woody Harrelson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Woody Harrelson
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
Harrelson in 2019
|
|
| Born |
Woodrow Tracy Harrelson
July 23, 1961 Midland, Texas, U.S.
|
| Alma mater | Hanover College (BA) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1985–present |
|
Works
|
Filmography |
| Spouse(s) |
|
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) |
|
| Relatives | Brett Harrelson (brother) |
| Awards | Full list |
Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor. He first became famous for playing the bartender Woody Boyd on the TV show Cheers (1985–1993). For this role, he won an Emmy Award.
Harrelson has been nominated for three Academy Awards. These include Best Actor for The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and Best Supporting Actor for The Messenger (2009) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).
He has also starred in many other popular movies. Some of these are White Men Can't Jump (1992), Natural Born Killers (1994), No Country for Old Men (2007), and Zombieland (2009). He is also well-known for playing Haymitch Abernathy in The Hunger Games film series (2012–2015).
Harrelson has also received Emmy nominations for his work on TV. He was nominated for playing Steve Schmidt in the film Game Change (2012) and a detective in the series True Detective (2014).
Contents
Early Life and Education
Woodrow Tracy Harrelson was born in Midland, Texas. His mother was Diane Oswald. He grew up in a Presbyterian home with his two brothers, Jordan and Brett. Brett also became an actor. Woody's father was rarely around during his childhood.
His family was not wealthy, and they relied on his mother's earnings. Woody went to The Briarwood School. In 1973, he moved to Lebanon, Ohio, where his mother was from. He graduated from Lebanon High School in 1979. That summer, he worked at the Kings Island amusement park.
Harrelson then went to Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana. He studied theater and English there. He was part of the Sigma Chi club and became friends with Mike Pence, who later became Vice President. He finished college in 1983.
Acting Career
Early Roles and Cheers
.jpg)
Woody Harrelson is widely recognized for his role on the TV show Cheers. He played the friendly bartender Woody Boyd. He joined the show in 1985 for its fourth season. He stayed on Cheers for eight years, until 1993.
For his role as Woody Boyd, Harrelson was nominated for five Emmy Awards. He won one of these awards in 1989. His character, Woody Boyd, was from Hanover, Indiana, which is where Harrelson went to college.
After Cheers, Harrelson appeared in other TV shows. In 1999, he played Woody Boyd again in an episode of the Cheers spin-off show Frasier. He was nominated for another Emmy for this guest role. He also appeared in a few episodes of Will & Grace in 2001.
While still on Cheers, Harrelson started his movie career. His first film was Wildcats (1986), a football comedy. He then starred in Cool Blue (1990). He worked with Wesley Snipes in the popular movie White Men Can't Jump (1992) and the action film Money Train (1995). Harrelson also played Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers and Dr. Michael Raynolds in The Sunchaser.
Becoming a Well-Known Actor
In 1994, Harrelson starred with Kiefer Sutherland in The Cowboy Way. In 1996, he was in the comedy Kingpin. His career really took off when he played Larry Flynt in the movie The People vs. Larry Flynt. This film was very successful. Harrelson's acting earned him nominations for a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Actor.
After this, Harrelson started getting more serious movie roles. He appeared in the war film Welcome to Sarajevo (1997) and Wag the Dog (1997). In 1998, he starred in the thriller Palmetto and the war film The Thin Red Line. The Thin Red Line was nominated for seven Academy Awards. Harrelson also made films like The Hi-Lo Country and EDtv. In 1999, he played boxer Vince Boudreau in Play It to the Bone.
Harrelson also directed his own play, Furthest from the Sun, in 1999. He acted in several plays in the early 2000s, including The Rainmaker and The Late Henry Moss. He also directed a play called Bullet for Adolf in 2011.
He returned to films in 2003, co-starring in the comedy Anger Management. He also appeared in After the Sunset and the Spike Lee film She Hate Me. In 2005, Harrelson was in The Big White and North Country. He also played Kelly Ryan in The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. In 2006, he was in the animated film Free Jimmy and A Scanner Darkly.
In 2007, he played Carter Page III in The Walker. He had an important role as Carson Wells in the Oscar-winning crime thriller No Country for Old Men. This film won Best Picture and Best Director. Harrelson also won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast with his co-stars. In Battle in Seattle (2007), he played a Seattle police officer.
In 2008, Harrelson appeared in the comedy Semi-Pro and the drama Seven Pounds. In 2009, he received much praise for his role as Captain Tony Stone in The Messenger. Many critics called it one of his best performances. He was nominated for several awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
That same year, Harrelson co-starred in the horror comedy Zombieland. He also appeared in Roland Emmerich's movie 2012, playing Charlie Frost. In 2010, he was a bartender and mentor in the film Bunraku.
In June 2010, Harrelson played in Soccer Aid 2010 for UNICEF UK. He scored the winning goal in a penalty shootout, helping his team win for the first time. He also played in Soccer Aid 2012 in 2012. In 2011, he starred in Friends with Benefits. Harrelson also narrated the 2011 film ETHOS.
Recent Success and Recognition
Harrelson played Haymitch Abernathy in The Hunger Games in 2012. He continued this role in all three later films until 2015. In 2012, he had a main role in the TV film Game Change on HBO. He played Steve Schmidt, a political strategist. For this role, he was nominated for many awards, including an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Harrelson returned to TV in 2014, starring with Matthew McConaughey in the first season of the HBO crime series True Detective. They played detectives investigating murders. Both actors were nominated for an Emmy Award for their roles.
In 2016, Harrelson announced he would direct, write, produce, and star in a film called Lost in London. This movie was filmed in one continuous shot and shown live in 2017. Harrelson played police chief Bill Willoughby in the film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). For this role, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 2017, he played the villain, The Colonel, in War for the Planet of the Apes. He also starred in The Glass Castle.
In 2018, Harrelson played Tobias Beckett, a criminal and mentor to Han Solo, in Solo: A Star Wars Story. He also had a small role at the end of the film Venom (2018), playing Cletus Kasady. He returned as the main villain, also voicing the symbiote Carnage, in the sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021).
In 2019, he starred with Kevin Costner in The Highwaymen. He also played Admiral Chester Nimitz in Midway. That same year, he played Tallahassee again in Zombieland 2: Double Tap. Starting in 2019, Harrelson often played Joe Biden on Saturday Night Live.
In 2023, Harrelson starred in the HBO series White House Plumbers. He played intelligence officer E. Howard Hunt. The series is about the Watergate scandal. Harrelson also helped produce the series. Also in 2023, he starred in Champions. In this film, he played a coach who leads a Special Olympics basketball team.
Personal Life
In 1985, Harrelson married Nancy Simon. They had planned to divorce quickly, but it took ten months. In 2008, he married Laura Louie. She helped start an organic food delivery service. They met in 1987 when she was his personal assistant. They live in Maui, Hawaii, and have three daughters, born in 1993, 1996, and 2006.
Hanover College gave Harrelson an honorary degree in 2014.
Harrelson enjoys chess. In 2018, he attended the World Chess Championship in London. He even made the first move for the game. He also made the first move for the previous championship in 2016. In 1999, Harrelson played a chess game against World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov in Prague and managed to draw. He had help from other chess Grandmasters who were there.
In 2023, Harrelson's friend and True Detective co-star Matthew McConaughey said they might be brothers. McConaughey's mother mentioned being close with Harrelson's father around the time McConaughey was born.
Harrelson is a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals football team. He also practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Lifestyle and Beliefs
Harrelson follows a raw vegan diet. This means he does not eat meat, dairy, sugar, or flour. In the movie Zombieland, his character loves Twinkies. For the film, the Twinkies were replaced with vegan versions made from cornmeal. In 2011, he appeared on a postage stamp as one of PETA's famous vegetarians.
As a child, Harrelson was Presbyterian and studied theology in college. He later felt that the Bible was more man-made. He says he has "a strong spiritual life."
Harrelson has spoken out on various topics. In 2020, he shared a post about 5G networks and COVID-19, which he later deleted. In 2022, he said he found face masks "absurd."
Other Activities
Activism
Harrelson is active in environmental causes. He has attended events like the PICNIC'07 festival in Amsterdam. He once climbed the Golden Gate Bridge to protest against a company that was cutting down ancient redwood trees.
He traveled across the U.S. on a bike and a bus that ran on hemp oil. This journey was part of a documentary called Go Further. He also narrated the 1999 documentary Grass. He used to own an oxygen bar in West Hollywood.
Harrelson has spoken out against wars. He protested the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the First Gulf War. In 2009, York University gave him an honorary degree for his work in environmental education and activism.
In June 2010, Harrelson played in Soccer Aid at Old Trafford to raise money for UNICEF. He scored the winning goal in a penalty shootout. He also played in the UNICEF game in 2012.
Politics
Harrelson has said he is an anarchist. He considers historian Howard Zinn a personal hero. In 2002, he wrote an article saying that President George W. Bush's plans for war in Iraq were "racist and imperialist." He also spoke against earlier wars and sanctions. In 2013, Harrelson criticized President Barack Obama for not removing U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
In 2023, he seemed to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In May 2024, Kennedy's campaign released a short film about his life, narrated by Harrelson.
Filmography and Awards
Woody Harrelson has had a long career in films and TV. He is known for his roles in many different types of stories. His acting has earned him worldwide recognition. He has been nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards, three Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards.
His Oscar nominations include Best Actor for his role as Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996). He also received Best Supporting Actor nominations for The Messenger (2009) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).
On television, his breakthrough role as bartender Woody Boyd earned him five Emmy nominations. He won one Emmy for this role. Harrelson later returned to TV with roles in Frasier and the 2012 film Game Change, earning him two more Emmy nominations.
Other notable films include North Country (2005), No Country for Old Men (2007), 2012, Zombieland (both 2009), Now You See Me (2013) and its 2016 sequel. He also starred in The Hunger Games film series (2012–2015), The Edge of Seventeen (2016), LBJ (2016), The Glass Castle (2017) and Kate (2021).
See also
In Spanish: Woody Harrelson para niños
- List of vegans
