Woody Harrelson

Woody Harrelson

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Birth name: Woodrow Tracy Harrelson
Date of birth: 23 July 1961
Place of birth: Midland, Texas, USA
Nickname: Woody
Height: 5′ 10″ (1.78 m) 
Spouse: Laura Louie (11 January 1998 – present) 3 children, Nancy Simon (29 June 1985 – 1986) (divorced)

Famous Quote: “I never was disillusioned with acting because I love acting. But I just felt at one point that I was on a hamster wheel, you know? Just doing movie after movie and thinking so much about career related things and I think missing out on hanging with my friends and family as much I needed to. So I just took some time off. I was maybe going to do two or three years and it turned into five years. But certainly, I’d say it was the best thing I ever did.”

Contact Address and Autograph: Addresses and fan mail information

Woody Harrelson
ID Public Relations
8409 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069, USA 

Biography:  Woodrow Tracy “Woody” Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated actor. He is probably best known for his role in the classic sitcom Cheers as Woody Boyd. Notable film roles include Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers, Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt, Dusty in A Prairie Home Companion and Carson Wells in No Country for Old Men. Blond, blue-eyed and somewhat slack-jawed, actor Woody Harrelson evolved from a beloved Emmy-winning sitcom supporting player to regularly employed feature lead in comedies, melodramas and “buddy” action fare. With the passage of time and the commercial success of some of these efforts, Harrelson began to transcend public memory of his affable eight-year (1985-93) portrayal of Woody Boyd, the dim-witted but good-hearted bartender on the now classic NBC sitcom “Cheers”. 

His first film assignment, a supporting role as a high school football player under the guidance of coach Goldie Hawn in the comedy “Wildcats” (1986), roughly coincided with the beginning of his stint as a series regular. (Incidentally, this also marked the film debut of his subsequent big-screen co-star Wesley Snipes.) Focusing on TV, Harrelson tried his hand at dramatic roles in such NBC made-for-TV melodramas as “Bay Coven” (1987) and “Killer Instinct” (1988) while opting for lighter outings in numerous specials. A social activist who has worked on behalf of organizations like Amnesty International and the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, he has dedicated most of his recent energy towards promoting industrial hemp as a commercially viable, environmentally-friendly cash crop.

Woody Harrelson grew up in Lebanon, Ohio. He received degrees in theatre arts and English from Hanover College, Indiana. His career began in New York theatre as an understudy in Neil Simon’s “Biloxi Blues”. Within months, he was cast as Woody on the hit TV series, “Cheers” (1982). Due to conflicts with his TV schedule, Harrelson found it difficult to cross-over to films. His first appearance was in Wildcats (1986) with Goldie Hawn. His next movie, Cool Blue (1988) (V), was releases directly to video. He followed with two cameos, which went uncredited. Meanwhile, he continued to be active in theatre in L.A.: “Zoo Story”, “2 on 2″ (his own basketball drama), “Brooklyn Laundry” (with Glenn Close and Laura Dern). In 1991, Doc Hollywood (1991) gave him his first widely-seen movie role. The following year, White Men Can’t Jump (1992), with Wesley Snipes established him as a box-office draw. He followed immediatly with two hits, Indecent Proposal (1993) and Natural Born Killers (1994). Harrelson lives with his former assistant, Laura Louie, and their 3 daughters.

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, the latter of whom is a professional motorcycle racer. In 1979, in San Antonio, Federal Judge John Howland Wood was shot and killed by rifle fire by Charles Harrelson, who was a free-lance contract killer. He was convicted and eventually died during his life sentence in maximum security prison. Harrelson grew up in Lebanon, Ohio, with his mother. Harrelson attended Lebanon High School and later Hanover College in Indiana, becoming a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, and receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Theater Arts and English in 1983.

After graduation, Harrelson moved to New York City. In 1985, he was cast as the naive but genial Midwestern bartender Woody Boyd on the classic television series Cheers, and won an Emmy for the role. His first film was 1986′s Wildcats with Goldie Hawn. Harrelson became friends with Wesley Snipes and starred with him in the box-office hits White Men Can’t Jump and Money Train. He appeared in mostly minor roles until he starred in Robert Redford’s Indecent Proposal in 1993, a role which helped open doors for Harrelson in the film industry.

In 1994 Harrelson starred in arguably his best known role to date, Mickey Knox in Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers. During this time he also starred in the Farrelly brothers cult classic Kingpin. In 1996, he starred in the title role of the controversial film The People vs. Larry Flynt, for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Following this performance Harrelson went to star in films such as Wag the Dog, EDtv, The Thin Red Line and Palmetto.

Harrelson reunited with Ron Shelton to star alongside Antonio Banderas as washed-up boxers attempting to rejuvenate their careers in Las Vegas in “Play It to the Bone” (2000). Aside from a starring role in the little-seen caper comedy “Scorched” (2003), Harrelson appeared primarily in cameo or supporting roles in films such as “Anger Management” (2003) and “She Hate M (2003), instead making more news in his off-screen life as a proponent of a vegan diet, the co-owner of a San Francisco oxygen bar and as an outspoken hemp activist and environmentalist. In 2004 the actor returned to the big screen in the amiable caper film “After the Sunset” (2004), playing an obsessed FBI agent trying to goad his retired jewel thief rival (Pierce Brosnan) into one more big score. 

In “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio” (2005), he played the bum husband of a housewife (Julianne Moore) who keeps her impoverished family afloat winning jingle contests while he drinks away the meager wages from his grueling job. After a supporting turn as a one-time local hockey hero turned big city lawyer in “North Country” (2005), Harrelson joined the ensemble cast for Robert Altman’s fictional take on Garrison Keillor’s long-running radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion” (2006), a loose anthology depicting the program on its final broadcast and populated by its usual strange cast of performing talent. 

More recently, he had a fairly long run on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace as Grace’s love interest Nathan and played FBI agent Stan in 2004′s After the Sunset. His most recent films are A Prairie Home Companion, A Scanner Darkly, and No Country for Old Men which were released in June and July of 2006 and November of 2007, respectively.

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.

On January 11, 1998, Harrelson married Laura Louie, his former assistant of two years and a co-founder of Yoganics, an organic food delivery service. The couple, who have been together since 1990, 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”.

Moonlights as the lead singer in the band Manly Moondog and the Three Kool Hats. Graduated from Hanover College in 1983 with a degree in theater arts & English. Member Sigma Chi fraternity. Was married to Neil Simon’s daughter, Nancy Simon. Has had relationships with: Carol Kane, Ally Sheedy and Moon Unit Zappa. Was arrested in Columbus (Ohio) in June 1983, charged of disorderly conduct – he was dancing in the street, halting traffic; he later jumped out of a moving police van laughing maniacally and finally punched one of the two arresting officers to the ground.

Brother of Brett Harrelson and Jordan Harrelson. Father Charles Harrelson was sentenced to two life sentences for the murder of Federal Judge John Howland Wood on the orders of drug dealer Jimmy Chagra, who reportedly paid him $250,000. Harrelson has claimed to be one of the “hobos” taken away from “the grassy knoll” right after the shooting of John F. Kennedy. Admits to having been a sex addict. Claims to have had 17 jobs in one year. Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in 1990. 

Activist for the legalization of marijuana. A jury in Beattyville, Kentucky dismissed a marijuana possession charge against him. He was arrested in 1996 for planting 4 marijuana hemp seeds in rural Kentucky and in his defence he said he was challenging a state law that makes no distinction between marijuana and hemp, even though hemp contains little of the drug found in marijuana and can be used to make a variety of industrial products. 

Woody and approximately a dozen other hemp activists and environmentalists took a bicycle tour down the west coast of America, starting in Seattle, Washington and 1000 miles later ending at the University of Santa Barbara in California. The tour was escorted by the Mothership, a Chicago city transit bus fueled by hemp oil and powered by solar panels. The ex-son-in-law of playwright Neil Simon, one of Woody’s first plays was Simon’s “Biloxi Blues” in 1984. He is on the board of the directors for the Ex’pression Center For New Media, an art school in Emeryville, California.

Is the owner of an oxygen bar in West Hollywood, California. Lives with Laura Louie and their children in Costa Rica. Was set to star in the Danny Boyle’s firefighter drama “Worcester Cold Storage” with Ed Harris, but the project never came to fruition. He is the first and, as of 2005, only regular cast member from “Cheers” (1982) to receive a nomination for an Academy Award. Wanted to play Jake Brigance in A Time to Kill (1996), but author John Grisham objected to his casting.

Good friends with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Daughter, Makani Ravello Harrelson, born 3 June 2006. Lovingly refers to his three daughters as the “Goddess trilogy”. Woody and his wife, Laura, became the parents of their third daughter, Makani Ravello, on Maui on June 3, 2006. Although he is a vegan, he is a raw foodist (which means he only eats raw and dried foods). He climbed the Golden Gate Bridge and put up a sign that read, “Hurwitz. Aren’t ancient redwoods more precious than gold?” in protest of MAXXAM/Pacific Lumber CEO Charles Hurwitz, who once stated, “He who has the gold, makes the rules”.

He and Nancy Simon were married in Tijuana, Mexico. Children: Deni Montana (b. 1994), Zoe Giordano (b. 1997), Makani Ravello (b. 2006) Lives in Hawaii 2006. His father, convicted murderer Charles Harrelson died on March 15th, 2007 in a federal super-maximum prison in Colorado. Friend of Owen Wilson. His friends Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber and Jim ‘Soni’ Sonefeld of the rock band Hootie and the Blowfish wrote the song “Woody” about him. The number can be found on the group’s eponymous 2003 album. Close friend of Michael J. Fox. Traveled to Machu Picchu in Peru with a friend in the early 90s. In 1991 he went to Nairobi, Kenya and lived in a tent on the outskirts of town for a few weeks to experience Africa and get away from it all.

Harrelson is a supporter and activist for the legalization of marijuana and hemp in the US. On June 1, 1996, he was arrested in Kentucky after he symbolically planted four hemp seeds to challenge state law that failed to distinguish between industrial hemp and marijuana. Harrelson won the case.

Harrelson is also an environmental activist. He once scaled the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco with members of North Coast Earth First! group to unfurl a banner that said, “Hurwitz. Aren’t ancient redwoods more precious than gold?” in protest of PALCO CEO Charles Hurwitz, who once stated, “He who has the gold, makes the rules”. Harrelson, an ethical vegan and raw foodist, has also denounced animal experiments in the cosmetics industry.

He has travelled the American West Coast on a bike and domino caravan with a hemp oil-fueled biodiesel bus (the subject of the independent documentary, Go Further) and has narrated the documentary Grass. Harrelson briefly owned an oxygen bar in West Hollywood called “O2″. He is also a peace activist and has often spoken publicly against the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

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