Woody Harrelson

A colorful and unbridled actor with a larger-than-life personality that can sometimes blur his actual self and his characters, Woody Harrelson (birthname: Woodrow Tracy Harrelson) has carved a savvy, wide-ranging film career spanning thirty years and nearly every corner of movie culture, from portraying porn king Larry Flynt and Pres.

Lyndon B. Johnson to co-starring in Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness (2022). Although his first popular character was Woody Boyd on the long-running hit sitcom, Cheers (1985-1993), Harrelson has devoted himself far more to the movies since 1991, when he had his first significant role in Doc Hollywood, with Michael J. Fox. 

Woody Harrelson’s true breakthrough role was as co-star with Wesley Snipes in Ron Shelton’s signature sports comedy, White Men Can’t Jump (1992). This led to a robust 1990s string of hits and ultra-vivid characters, working with many top directors. These included: Adrian Lyne’s Indecent Proposal (1993) with Demi Moore. Oliver Stone’s Wild and Wooly Natural Born Killers (1994) with Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey, Jr., and Tommy Lee Jones. His astonishing portrayal of porn industry magnate Larry Flynt in Milos Forman’s The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996).

Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s bowling comedy, Kingpin (1996), with Bill Murray and Randy Quaid. Michael Cimino’s final film, Sunchaser (1996). Barry Levenson’s political satire, Wag the Dog (1997), with Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman. Michael Winterbottom’s bracing war drama, Welcome to Sarajevo (1997), with Marisa Tomei and Kerry Fox. Another exceptional war drama, from writer-director Terrence Malick, The Thin Red Line (1998), with a huge ensemble including Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, George Clooney, John Cusack, Nick Nolte, John C.

Reilly and John Travolta; Volker Schlöndorff’s Palmetto (1998), with Elisabeth Shue and Gina Gershon; Stephen Frears’ modern Western, The Hi-Lo Country (1998), with Billy Crudup, Penélope Cruz, and Patricia Arquette; another sports movie with Shelton, Play It to the Bone (1999), with Antonio Banderas; Ron Howard’s broad comedy, EDtv (1999), with Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Ellen DeGeneres, and Rob Reiner; plus a good-natured jab at himself in Jay Roach’s Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), and serving as narrator for Ron Mann’s documentary celebration of cannabis, Grass (1999).

After a break and a few box-office failures, Woody Harrelson joined Spike Lee’s ensemble for She Hate Me (2004), with Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington, and Julianne Moore and Laura Dern for Jane Anderson’s The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio (2005).

Harrelson continued working with leading American filmmakers in the new century, including Richard Linklater (A Scanner Darkly in 2006, with Keanu Reeves), Robert Altman (A Prairie Home Companion in 2006, with Meryl Streep, Lindsay Lohan, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, and Lily Tomlin), Paul Schrader (The Walker in 2007, with Kristen Scott Thomas, Tomlin, and Willem Dafoe), The Coen Brothers (No Country for Old Men in 2007, with Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin), Brad Anderson (Transsiberian in 2008, with Emily Mortimer), and Oren Moverman (The Messenger in 2009, with Samantha Morton and Steve Buscemi). 

One of Woody Harrelson’s most successful movies in this period was the runaway hit comedy, Zombieland (2009), which earned $102 million globally with a cast including Jesse Eisenberg and Emma Stone, and spawned a 2019 sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap. An extremely busy actor (he worked in five movies in both 2013 and 2016, and six in 2017), Harrelson starred or co-starred in several smash hits during this period, led by his running role as the evil Haymitch in The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire (2013), Mockingjay—Part 1 (2014), and Mockingjay—Part 2 (2015). It also included the heist comedy series, Now You See Me (2013) and Now You See Me 2 (2016), with Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, and Morgan Freeman, which combined for a worldwide box office take of $680 million.

Harrelson joined Christian Bale, Forest Whitaker, and Casey Affleck for Scott Cooper’s drama, Out of the Furnace (2013), and later portrayed Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson in Rob Reiner’s biopic, LBJ (2016). Woody Harrelson secured his third Oscar nomination as the colorful Sheriff Willoughby in Martin McDonagh’s spiky comedy, Three Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), with Oscar-winning co-stars Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell. In 2017, Harrelson reunited with director Reiner and fellow actor Tommy Lee Jones for Shock and Awe.

In 2018, Woody Harrelson plunged into both the worlds of Star Wars and MCU with Marvel’s Venom, starring Tom Hardy, and Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, with Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, and Thandiwe Newton. Harrelson portrayed another historical figure, World War II hero Admiral Chester Nimitz, in Roland Emmerich’s Midway (2019), with Nick Jonas, Patrick Wilson, and Aaron Eckhart.

(Upcoming historical figures getting the Harrelson touch is Watergate burglar, E. Howard Hunt, and LSD guru Timothy Leary, for the TV mini-series The White House Plumbers and The Most Dangerous Man in America.)  Harrelson was part of the ensemble of Ruben Östlund’s Cannes-competing Triangle of Sadness with Harris Dickinson and Charlie Dean. Harrelson appears next with Kevin Hart and Kaley Cuoco in the comedy, The Man from Toronto (2022), and with Ernie Hudson and Cheech Marin in Bobby Farrelly’s Special Olympics basketball movie, Champions (release date to be announced).