Woody Harrelson
Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. Harrelson first became known for his role as bartender Woody Boyd on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1985–1993), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series from five nominations. He reprised his role in the acclaimed spinoff series Frasier in 1999 for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series nomination.
Woody Harrelson
Actor
1985–present
-
Nancy Simon(m. 1985; div. 1986)
-
Laura Louie(m. 2008)
3
- Charles Harrelson (father)
Brett Harrelson (brother)
Harrelson received three Academy Award nominations: Best Actor for The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), and Best Supporting Actor for both The Messenger (2009) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). Other notable films include White Men Can't Jump (1992), Natural Born Killers (1994), The Thin Red Line (1998), Play It to the Bone (1999), No Country for Old Men (2007), Seven Pounds (2008), Zombieland (2009), Rampart (2011), Seven Psychopaths (2012), Now You See Me (2013), The Edge of Seventeen (2016), LBJ (2016), The Highwaymen (2019), and Triangle of Sadness (2022). He also played Haymitch Abernathy in The Hunger Games film series (2012–2015).
Harrelson received further Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his portrayal of Steve Schmidt in the HBO film Game Change (2012), and for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Marty Hart in the HBO crime anthology series True Detective (2014). He portrayed E. Howard Hunt in the HBO political limited series White House Plumbers (2023) and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.
Early life and education[edit]
Woodrow Tracy Harrelson[1][2] was born in Midland, Texas, to secretary Diane (née Oswald)[3] and convicted hitman Charles Voyde Harrelson. He was raised in a Presbyterian household alongside his two brothers, Jordan and Brett, the latter of whom also became an actor.[4] Their father received a life sentence for the 1979 killing of federal judge John H. Wood Jr.[5] Harrelson has stated that his father was rarely around during his childhood.[4] Charles died in the United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility on March 15, 2007.[5]
Harrelson's family was poor and relied on his mother's wages.[4] He attended The Briarwood School in Houston, Texas.[6] In 1973, he moved to his mother's native city of Lebanon, Ohio,[7] where he attended Lebanon High School, from which he graduated in 1979.[8] He spent the summer of 1979 working at Kings Island amusement park.[9]
Harrelson attended Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana, where he studied theater and English.[10][11] While there, he was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and became friends with future vice president Mike Pence.[11] He graduated in 1983.[11]
Other ventures[edit]
Business[edit]
On May 13, 2022, Harrelson opened The Woods WeHo—a cannabis dispensary off Melrose Ave in Los Angeles, California.[67][68][69]
Activism[edit]
Harrelson is an enthusiast and supporter of the legalization of marijuana and hemp.[70][71] He was a guest on Ziggy Marley's track "Wild and Free", a song advocating the growing of cannabis. Since 2003, Harrelson has served as a member on NORML's advisory board.[72]
Harrelson has attended environmental events such as the PICNIC'07 festival that was held in Amsterdam in September 2007.[73] 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".[74] He once scaled the Golden Gate Bridge 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. CEO Charles Hurwitz, who once stated, "He who has the gold, makes the rules."[75]
Harrelson 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 1999 documentary Grass. He briefly owned an oxygen bar in West Hollywood called "O2".[76]
Harrelson has spoken publicly against the 2003 invasion of Iraq as well as previously protesting against the First Gulf War, both at UCLA as well as during a college concert tour in Iowa and Nebraska in 1991 under the auspices of "Woody Harrelson Educational Tours". In October 2009, he was given an honorary degree by York University for his contributions in the fields of environmental education, sustainability, and activism.[77]
In June 2010, Harrelson took part in Soccer Aid at Old Trafford in Manchester to raise money for UNICEF.[78] Harrelson played the last 15 minutes and scored the winning goal in the penalty shootout following a 2–2 draw during normal time.[78] He 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.
Politics[edit]
Harrelson identifies as an anarchist.[79] In a conversation with Howard Zinn, Harrelson admitted that he considers Zinn to be a personal hero of his.[80] In 2002, Harrelson wrote an article in the British newspaper The Guardian condemning President George W. Bush's preparation for a US invasion of Iraq as a "racist and imperialist war".[81] He also stated that he was against the U.S.'s previous war in Iraq and President Bill Clinton's sanctions against Iraq. In 2013, Harrelson condemned President Barack Obama for failing to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, negatively comparing him to Richard Nixon.[82] In 2023, he appeared to endorse Robert F. Kennedy Jr.[83]