Woody Harrelson

Woody Harrelson is an American actor and playwright whose career spans television and film across comedy and drama. He first became widely known for a long-running television role before establishing himself as a versatile film actor, earning multiple Academy Award nominations over the course of his career.

Early life

Woodrow Tracy Harrelson was born on July 23, 1961, in Midland, Texas. He spent part of his upbringing in Ohio and attended Hanover College in Indiana, where he studied theatre and English. He pursued acting after college, working in theatre before breaking into television.

Career

Harrelson achieved early fame playing the amiable bartender Woody Boyd on the long-running sitcom "Cheers," a role for which he won an Emmy Award and which made him a household name. He transitioned to film with a range of roles that demonstrated his versatility, including the controversial drama "Natural Born Killers" and the biographical film "The People vs. Larry Flynt," the latter earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

Over the following decades he built a reputation as a dependable and adaptable performer. He appeared in the Coen brothers' "No Country for Old Men," received further Oscar nominations for "The Messenger" and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," and reached a broad young audience as Haymitch Abernathy in "The Hunger Games" film series. He also gained acclaim for his role in the first season of the television series "True Detective," and starred in the popular "Zombieland" films. His wide-ranging filmography includes comedies such as "White Men Can't Jump" and "Kingpin," the science-fiction franchise entry "War for the Planet of the Apes," and appearances in major franchises including "Solo: A Star Wars Story" and the "Venom" films.

Recent work

Harrelson has continued to work prolifically across genres, taking roles in major studio films, independent dramas and television. He has appeared in large-scale productions as well as character-driven projects, has hosted "Saturday Night Live" on several occasions, and experimented with form by writing and directing a film shot live in a single continuous take. He has also returned to comedy in recent feature roles while continuing to take on dramatic parts. Known offscreen for his environmental advocacy and outspoken personal views, he remains one of the more recognisable and consistently working American actors of his generation, with a body of work that ranges from broad comedy to intense drama. His willingness to take on unconventional and risk-taking projects, alongside mainstream studio films, has helped sustain a career of unusual breadth across more than three decades.