JT

JT may stand for:

Business

Entertainment

People

Science and technology

J. T. Walsh

James Thomas Patrick "J. T." Walsh (September 28, 1943 – February 27, 1998) was an American actor. He appeared in many well known films, including Nixon, Hoffa, A Few Good Men, Backdraft, Miracle on 34th Street, Outbreak, Sling Blade, Breakdown, Pleasantville, The Negotiator, and Good Morning, Vietnam. According to Leonard Maltin, he was known for portraying "quietly sinister white-collar sleazeballs" in numerous films, and was described as "everybody's favorite scumbag" by Playboy magazine.

Early life

Walsh was born in San Francisco, California. He had three siblings: Christopher, Patricia, and Mary. From 1948 to 1962, the family lived in West Germany, before moving back to the United States. After studying at Clongowes Wood College in Ireland from 1955 to 1961, Walsh attended the University of Tübingen in Tübingen, and then the University of Rhode Island, where he starred in many college theater productions. In 1974, he was discovered by a theatre director and began working in off-Broadway shows. After college Walsh worked briefly as a VISTA volunteer in Newport, Rhode Island organizing tenants for the United Tenant Organizations of Rhode Island (UTO) before resigning to pursue his acting career.

Sling Blade

Sling Blade is a 1996 American drama film set in rural Arkansas, written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, who also stars in the lead role. It tells the story of a man named Karl Childers who has a developmental disability and is released from a psychiatric hospital, where he has lived since killing his mother and her lover when he was 12 years old, and the friendship he develops with a young boy and his mother. In addition to Thornton, it stars Dwight Yoakam, J. T. Walsh, John Ritter, Lucas Black, Natalie Canerday, James Hampton, and Robert Duvall.

The movie was adapted by Thornton from his short film and previous screenplay, Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade. Sling Blade proved to be a sleeper hit, launching Thornton into stardom. It won the Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, and Thornton was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. The music for the soundtrack was provided by French Canadian artist/producer Daniel Lanois.

Summary

Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) is an intellectually disabled Arkansas man who has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 for having killed his mother and her lover. Although thoroughly "institutionalized," Karl is deemed fit to be released into the outside world. Prior to his release, he is interviewed by a local college newspaper reporter, to whom he recounts the brutal murder of his mother and her boyfriend with a Kaiser blade - during which scene he notes to the reporter that, "Some folks call it a sling blade. I call it a kaiser blade," the line from which the film derives its name. Karl continues, saying that he killed the man because he thought he was raping his mother. When he discovered that his mother was a willing participant in the affair, he killed her also.

Bob Thornton

Robert George "Bob" Thornton (born July 10, 1962) is a retired American professional basketball player whose career lasted from 1985 to 1996 and a current assistant coach for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a 6'10" 225 forward. He holds NBA career averages of 3.0 points and 2.5 rebounds in 283 total games.

Thornton played college basketball at University of California, Irvine and Saddleback Community College, and was selected by the New York Knicks with the 87th pick of the 1984 NBA Draft.

Thornton, an eight-year NBA veteran, played for five NBA teams (New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards) and played three seasons in the Italian A-1 league with Rome, Siena and Pavia. He later held coaching positions with the CBA's Yakima Sun Kings and Quad City Thunder, the NBDL's Huntsville Flight, and the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves. From 2007 to 2011, he worked as an advance scout for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was hired as an assistant coach by the Memphis Grizzlies on December 5, 2011.

Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker, singer, songwriter, and musician.

Thornton had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller One False Move, and came to international attention after writing, directing, and starring in the independent drama film Sling Blade (1996), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He appeared in several major film roles in the 1990s following Sling Blade, including Oliver Stone's neo-noir U Turn (1997), political drama Primary Colors (1998), science fiction disaster film Armageddon (1998), which was the highest-grossing film of that year, and the crime drama A Simple Plan (1998), which earned him his third Academy Awards nomination.

In the 2000s, he achieved further success in starring dramas Monster's Ball (2001), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), and Friday Night Lights (2004); comedies Bandits (2001), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), and Bad Santa (2003); and action films Eagle Eye (2008) and Faster (2010). In 2014, Thornton starred in the first season of the anthology series Fargo, earning a nomination for the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie at the Emmy Awards and won Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Film at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards.