Woody Harrelson is an American activist and a popular film and television actor. He was born as Woodrow Tracy ‘Woody’ Harrelson on July 23, 1961 at Midland, Texas to Diane Lou and Charles Voyde Harrelson. His parents had a divorce in 1964. When his father died, Woody moved to his mother’s hometown in Lebanon, Ohio, where he grew up. He went to Lebanon High School and works as a woodcarver while studying. He also studied at Hanover College in Indiana where he participated in the Sigma Chi fraternity. In 1983, Woody got a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and English.
One of the most notable role that he played was his character as Woody Boyd, a bartender in the television sitcom, Cheers which runs from year 1982-1993 on NBC. Woody joined the cast in year 1985 after replacing the late Nicholas Colasanto who played as Coach. His performance in the show gained him five Emmy Awards, winning only one award as the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1989. Woody also appeared in the spin-off of Cheers and reprised the same role in Frasier in 1999, where he received another nomination at the Emmy Awards. In 2001, the actor appeared in many episodes of the American sitcom, Will & Grace and donned the role of Nathan. In 2009, in an episode of The Colbert Report, he was interviewed by
Stephen Colbert
in promoting the war drama film, The Messenger. In response to a question by Colbert, Woody agreed to let his head shave in front of the camera. He came back in television in 2014 through the first season of the crime drama series, True Detective which stars Matthew McConaughey.
During the time that he works on Cheers, he is also reawakening his film career. In 1986, he did his first film, Wildcats which stars
Wesley Snipes
. He and Wesley became good friends and starred together in the box-office films, White Men Can’t Jump in 1992 and Money Train in 1995. He was also starred in another box-office hit film, Indecent Proposal together with
Robert Redford
and
Demi Moore
. The film grossed $265,000,000. In 1994, he was featured as Mickey Knox in the crime film, Natural Born Killers. Woody acted as Dr. Michael Reynolds in the 1996 film, Sunchaser. In the same year, he donned the role of Roy Munson in the comedy film, Kingpin which also stars Randy Quaid and Bill Murray.
In the biographical drama film, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Woody bagged the main lead role as Larry Flynt of Hustler magazine. This film became a success and his performance gained him nominations for Best Actor at the Golden Globe and Academy Award. Later, he started to appear in more serious roles. In 1997, he was starred in the British war film, Welcome to Sarajevo and acted as Sgt. William Schumann in the black comedy film, Wag the Dog. He was also featured as Harry Barber in the 1998 neo-noir film, Palmetto followed by his role as Sgt. William Keck in the epic war film, The Thin Red Line, which received seven nominations at the Academy Awards.
The actor also made other films like the Western drama film, The Hi-Lo Country. He essayed the role of Raymond Pekurny in the comedy film, EDtv in 1999 and in the same year, Woody acted was starred as Vince Boudreau in the sports comedy film, Play It to the Bone. He stopped on doing films until 2003. In his returned to the big screen, he was co-starred in the comedy film, Anger Management. He also appeared in the action-comedy film, After the Sunset in 2004 and acted as Leland Powell in the independent comedy film, She Hate Me. He was also seen in films like, The Big White and North Country in 2005. In the biographical film, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, Woody acted as Leo ‘Kelly’ Ryan, the husband of Evelyn Ryan (played by
Julianne Moore
), who is obsessed in joining contests to support her family. In 2006, Woody voiced Roy Arnie’s character in the animated film, Free Jimmy. He also essayed the role of Ernie Luckman in the animated science fiction film, A Scanner Darkly.
In year 2007, he played as Carson Wells, an arrogant bounty hunter in the neo-western thriller film, No Country for Old Men where he received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast. Woody was also part of the films, Battle in Seattle in 2007, Semi-Pro and Seven Pounds in 2008. Woody received praises for his role as Captain Tony Stone in the war drama film, The Messenger, which was considered as his best role according to the critics. He received nominations at the Satellite Award, Independent Spirit Award, Academy Award, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor. He received the Best supporting Actor award at the National Board of Review Award Ceremonies in 2009.
Woody was also co-starred in the comedy film, Zombieland; followed by his role as Charlie Frost in the science fiction film, 2012. In year 2010, he was also starred in the martial arts film, Bunraku. Later, he played the role of Tommy in the romantic comedy film, Friends with Benefits. Woody was also one of the casts in the adventure film, The Hunger Games in 2012. He also played as Dave Brown in the drama film, Rampart.
Woody was also part of the theatre and directed his own play. He got married to Nancy Simon in 1985. After a day, they decided to get a divorce but the divorce parlor was closed at that time. Their marriage lasted for ten months. In 2008, he got married again to Laura Louie, his girlfriend for 21 years. They have three daughters namely Deni Montana, Zoe Giordano and Makani Ravello.