Woody Harrelson
Harrelson at the hempsters world premiere at Fantastic Fest, September 25, 2009
Born	Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (1961-07-23) July 23, 1961 (age 50) Midland, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	Nancy Simon (1985–1986) Laura Louie (2008–present)
Parents	Charles Harrelson Diane Lou (née Oswald)

Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson^[1][2] (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor.

Harrelson's breakout role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd. Some notable film characters include basketball hustler Billy Hoyle in White Men Can't Jump, bowler Roy Munson in Kingpin, serial killer Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers, magazine publisher Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt, country singer Dusty in A Prairie Home Companion, bounty hunter Carson Wells in No Country for Old Men, zombie killer Tallahassee in Zombieland, blind piano player/meat salesman Ezra Turner in Seven Pounds, conspiracy nut Charlie Frost in 2012, a delusional man who believes that he is a superhero named Defendor in Defendor and Cpt. Tony Stone in The Messenger. For The People vs. Larry Flynt and The Messenger, Harrelson earned Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.^[3] He also appeared as Haymitch in the film The Hunger Games, which was released on March 23, 2012.

Early life[link]

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. Harrelson's father, who was a contract killer, was arrested for the killing of Federal Judge John H. Wood, Jr. by rifle fire in 1979 in San Antonio.^[4] His father was convicted and eventually died during his life sentence in United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility.^[4]

In 1973, Harrelson moved to his mother's native city, Lebanon, Ohio, where he was raised.^[5] Harrelson attended Lebanon High School, working through much of high school as a wood-carver at Kings Island amusement park. He later attended Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana, where he became a brother of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He received a bachelor of arts in theater arts and English in 1983. He told Playboy Magazine in October 2009, "I was getting into theology and studying the roots of the Bible, but then I started to discover the man-made nature of it. I started seeing things that made me ask, ‘Is God really speaking through this instrument? ... My eyes opened to the reality of the Bible being just a document to control people. At the time I was a real mama’s boy and deeply mesmerized by the church."^[6]

Career[link]

Television[link]

Harrelson on the red carpet at the 40th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, August 28, 1988

Harrelson is widely known for his work on the NBC sitcom Cheers. He played bartender Woody Boyd, who replaced Coach (played by Nicholas Colasanto, who died in February 1985). He joined the cast in 1985 for season four and lasted eight seasons (1985–1993) on the show. For this role, Harrelson was nominated for five Emmy Awards^[7], winning once in 1989. His character of Boyd was from Hanover, Indiana, the town where Harrelson attended college.

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.

He appeared in several 2001 episodes of Will and Grace as Grace's new boyfriend.

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.

On June 6, 2010, Harrelson took part playing in Soccer Aid 2010 for UNICEF UK at Old Trafford in Manchester, UK. The match was broadcast live on UK's ITV television. After being brought on as a substitute for Gordon Ramsay, Harrelson took the final penalty in the penalty shootout, following a 2–2 draw after 91 minutes. Despite being initially unaware of exactly from where his kick had to be taken, Harrelson scored to win the game for "The Rest of the World" team, beating England for the first time since the tournament began. When later interviewed he claimed that he "didn't even remember the moment of scoring".^[3] Harrelson Will Also Take Part In Soccer Aid 2012

Film[link]

While still working on Cheers, Harrelson pursued a film career. His first movie had been Wildcats, a football comedy in 1986 with Goldie Hawn. Harrelson reunited and became friends with Wesley Snipes and starred with him in the box-office hit White Men Can't Jump and the box office bomb Money Train.

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.

Harrelson's career gained great momentum when he starred in the Milos Forman film The People vs. Larry Flynt, in which he played Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine. The film was a success and Harrelson's performance was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Actor.

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 made other films such as The Hi-Lo Country and portrayed Ray Pekurny in the comedy EDtv. Also in 1999, he appeared as boxer Vince Boudreau in the Ron Shelton film Play It to the Bone.

Harrelson did not appear in movies again until 2003 when he co-starred as Galaxia in the comedy film Anger Management. He appeared in the action film After the Sunset and the comedy She Hate Me.

In 2005, Harrelson was in The Big White and North Country. Also in 2005 he appeared as Kelly Ryan, husband of a contest-obsessed woman in the film The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. Harrelson made two films in 2006, the animated film version of Free Jimmy and also A Scanner Darkly. In 2007 he played Carter Page III, gay escort of privileged Washington D.C. women, in the film The Walker.

Woody Harrelson, April 2007.

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.

Also in a movie released in 2007, Battle in Seattle, Harrelson played another key role of a Seattle police officer whose pregnant wife loses her baby during the WTO protests in 1999. The film, also starring Andre 3000 of the hip hop group Outkast, depicts thousands of people peacefully protesting the WTO's attempts to broaden gaps between rich and poor while publicly promising a bridging of the gaps. These protests go wrong when members of an anarchist group tear the city to pieces with the help of provocateurs. Harrelson's role goes from a law abiding and enforcing Officer of the law, to a grief-stricken eye-for-an-eye man with a badge to justify his actions.

In 2008, Harrelson appeared in several films, among them the Will Ferrell basketball comedy Semi-Pro and the Will Smith stark drama Seven Pounds.

In 2009, Harrelson received significant praise for his performance as Captain Tony Stone in The Messenger. In what many critics considered to be his best role, Harrelson was nominated for a Satellite Award, an Independent Spirit Award, a Golden Globe Award a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Harrelson has also won the Best Supporting Actor award in the 2009 National Board of Review award ceremonies and received accolades from various critics' societies.

Also in 2009, he co-starred in the horror comedy Zombieland, and is to reprise his role in its upcoming sequel. In Roland Emmerich's 2012, he played Charlie Frost, a man who warns of the end of the world. In 2010 he starred as a bartender and mentor in the futuristic western martial arts film Bunraku. In 2011, he starred as Tommy in the movie Friends With Benefits. He was cast as Haymitch in 2012's The Hunger Games.^[3]

On February 3, 2012, he participated in an "Ask Me Anything" session^[8] on the social media website Reddit.^[9] The AMA turned into a PR disaster when Harrelson failed to make meaningful responses to any questions and soon specifically refused to respond to anything not directly related to the upcoming worldwide release of the movie Rampart, which he stars in.^[10][11][12]

Theatre[link]

In 1999 Harrelson directed his own play, Furthest from the Sun, at the theater de la Juene Luene in Minneapolis. He followed next in Roundabout's Broadway rival at the N. Richard Nash played The Rainmaker in 2000, Sam Shepard's The Late Henry Moss in 2001, John Kolvenbach's On an Average Day opposite Kyle MacLachlan in London's West End in the fall of 2002, and in the summer of 2003, Harrelson directed the Toronto premiere of Kenneth Lonergan's This is Our Youth at the Berkley Street Theater. In the winter of 2005/2006 Harrelson returned to London's West End, starring in Tennessee Williams' Night of the Iguana at the Lyric Theater. Currently, Harrelson is directing A Bullet for Adolf (a play written by himself in collaboration with Frankie Hyman) at the esteemed Hart House Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, which runs from April 21 to May 7, 2011.

Personal life[link]

Marriages and family[link]

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.^[13]

On December 28, 2008, Harrelson married Laura Louie, his girlfriend since 1987. The couple have three daughters, Deni Montana (born February 28, 1993), Zoe Giordano (born September 22, 1996), and Makani Ravello (born June 3, 2006). When announcing Makani's birth, the couple referred to the three as their "goddess trilogy." Laura is his former assistant and a co-founder of Yoganics, an organic food delivery service.^[14]

Legal issues[link]

Harrelson was arrested in 1982 for disorderly conduct after he was found dancing in the middle of the street.^[15] He was also charged with resisting arrest after he ran from the police and assault after he hit one of the officers.^[15] Harrelson avoided jail time by paying a $390 fine.^[16]

On June 1, 1996, Harrelson was arrested in Lee County, Kentucky, after he symbolically planted four hemp seeds to challenge the state law which did not distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana. Harrelson was acquitted of these charges in 2000.^[17]

In 2002, Harrelson was arrested in London after an incident in a taxi that ended in a police chase. Harrelson was taken to a London police station and later released on bail.^[18] The case was later dismissed after Harrelson paid the taxi driver involved in the incident £550 ($844).^[19]

In 2008, TMZ photographer Josh Levine filed a lawsuit against Harrelson for an alleged attack outside a Hollywood nightclub in 2006. A video of the incident appeared to show Harrelson grabbing a camera and clashing with the photographer. Los Angeles prosecutors declined to press charges against the actor, but Levine filed a suit that summer asking for $2.5 million in damages.^[20] The case was dismissed in April 2010.^[21]

Advocacy work[link]

Woody Harrelson in 2004

Drug Reform/Green Industry[link]

Harrelson is an enthusiast and supporter for the legalization of marijuana and hemp, but does not consider himself to be an activist for that cause.^[22][23] Harrelson was a guest on Ziggy Marley's track "Wild And Free," a song advocating the growing of cannabis. Since 2003, Harrelson serves as a member on NORML's advisory board.^[24]

Environmental[link]

Harrelson is also an environmental activist. He has attended environmental events such as the PICNIC'07 festival that was held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, for three days in September 2007.^[25] PICNIC describes its annual festival as "three intensive days [when] we mix creativity, science, technology, media and business to explore new solutions in the spirit of co-creation."^[26] He once scaled the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco with members of North Coast Earth First! group to unfurl a banner that read, "Hurwitz, Aren't ancient redwoods more precious than gold?" in protest of Maxxam Inc/PALCO CEO Charles Hurwitz, who once stated, "He who has the gold, makes the rules."^[27]

He once traveled to the west coast in the U.S. on a bike and a domino caravan with a hemp oil-fueled biodiesel bus with The Spitfire Agency (the subject of the independent documentary, Go Further) and narrated the documentary Grass. Harrelson briefly owned an oxygen bar in West Hollywood called "O2." He is a peace activist, and has often spoken publicly against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Harrelson is also an ethical vegan and raw foodist. He did not eat Twinkies for his movie Zombieland, replacing them with vegan faux-Twinkies made from cornmeal.^[28] He appeared on postage stamps issued in 2011 as one of PETA's 20 famous vegetarians.^[29] In October 2009, he was conferred an honorary degree by York University for his contributions in the fields of environmental education, sustainability, and activism.^[30]

UNICEF[link]

In June 2010, Harrelson took part in Soccer Aid at Old Trafford to raise money for UNICEF. Harrelson played for the "Rest of the World" team, playing in the last 15 minutes, and scored the winning kick in the penalty shootout following a 2–2 draw during normal time.^[31] He also played in the UNICEF game 2012, playing the last 10 minutes of the game for the "Rest of the World team", losing 3-1 to England.

Political views[link]

Harrelson is a supporter of the 9/11 truth movement and has supported reopening an investigation into the September 11 terrorist attacks.^[32]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Woody Harrelson

• Woody Harrelson at the Internet Movie Database
• VoiceYourself
• Woody Harrelson at Emmys.com