Biography

Bruce Willis is one of a handful of stars today who can command a salary upwards of $20,000,000 per picture. It certainly puts him among Hollywood's elite, but the road to fame for this action-hero was anything but smooth. Willis was born in West Germany in 1955, moving to New Jersey two years later. As a kid in school he would often take the role of the class clown, while at college he would pursue his love of the spotlight by appearing in plays, as well as looking for work in off-Broadway productions. Eventually he dropped out of college to perform in the play "Heaven and Earth," after which his acting career stalled. Willis wore all sorts of different hats as an out-of-work actor -- he played the harmonica in a blues band, and also bartended for a short while.

It was after being discovered by a casting agent that Bruce got a chance to audition for the television series "Moonlighting." Selected from over 3,000 other candidates, Willis soon became one of T.V.'s most recognizable personalities. His David Addison was witty, sarcastic, and just plain fun to watch. Although Willis had many well-publicized off-screen confrontations with the series' other lead--Cybill Shepherd--their on-screen chemistry was undeniable, and the hit series would go on to serve as Bruce's launching pad to the big screen.

His cinematic career started out slowly enough, with clunkers like Blind Date (1987) and Sunset (1988) gaining him few fans, and only derision from the critics. It was 1988's monster hit Die Hard that would change Bruce Willis' career forever. Playing John McClane, a New York cop who takes on a slew of smart and sophisticated terrorists, Willis almost single-handedly redefined the action genre. He portrayed McClane as an ordinary, "human" hero (as opposed to the "Rambo" style1of the early eighties) -- a hero who would bleed, have moments of self-doubt, and who would have to rely more on his wits than on his brawn. The result was a cinematic smash of gigantic proportions, and suddenly Willis found himself being cast as an action-hero rather than the good-natured wiseguy he had portrayed earlier in his TV and movie career.

Not unlike his character in Die Hard, Bruce Willis has proved that he is a survivor. Every time his career seems to stall with forgettable films like The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Hudson Hawk (1991), Death Becomes Her (1992) and Striking Distance (1993), he'll come back with surprising performances in films like Pulp Fiction (1994), The Fifth Element (1997), 12 Monkeys (1995), and The Sixth Sense (1999) to reaffirm his place among Hollywood's elite.

Among Willis' other hits are The Jackal (1997), Armageddon (1998), The Siege (1998), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), and Bandits (2001), as well as a voice-over performance in Look Who's Talking (1989), and the two Die Hard sequels -- Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990) and Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995).

Filmography

Hostage (2004) .... Jeff Talley
Whole Ten Yards, The (2003) .... Jimmy 'The Tulip' Tudeski
Rugrats Meet the Wild Thornberrys (2003)(voice) .... Spike the Dog
Tears of the Sun (2003) .... A.K. Waters
Pulp Fiction: The Facts (2002) (V) .... Himself
True West (2002) (TV) .... Lee
Hart's War (2002) .... Col. William A. McNamara
E! Rank: 25 Toughest Stars (2001) (TV) .... Himself/#2
Inside Bandits (2001) (V) .... Himself
Bandits (2001) .... Joe Blake
Conversations with Jon Turteltaub (2000) (V) .... Himself
... aka Spotlight On John Turteltaub (2000) (V) (Australia: DVD title)
Film-Fest DVD: Issue 3 - Toronto (2000) (V) .... Himself
Kid Becomes the Kid, A (2000) (TV) .... Himself
... aka Spotlight on Spencer Breslin (2000) (TV) (Australia: promotional title)
Unbreakable (2000) .... David Dunn
Kid, The (2000) .... Russell Duritz
... aka Disney's The Kid (2000) (USA: complete title)
Whole Nine Yards, The (2000) .... Jimmy 'The Tulip' Tudeski
... aka Nouveau voisin, Le (2000) (Canada: French title)
Franky Goes to Hollywood (1999) .... Himself
Story of Us, The (1999) .... Ben Jordan
Telling the Story of Us (1999) (TV) .... Himself
Sixth Sense, The (1999) .... Malcolm Crowe
Breakfast of Champions (1999) .... Dwayne Hoover, Owner Exit 11 Motor Village
Apocalypse (1998/I) (VG) .... Trey Kincaide
Jackie Chan: My Story (1998) (V) .... Himself
Siege, The (1998) .... Major General William Devereaux
Armageddon (1998) .... Harry S. Stamper
Mercury Rising (1998) .... FBI Agent Arthur 'Art' Jeffries
Jackal, The (1997) .... The Jackal
... aka Chacal, Le (1998) (France: dubbed version)
... aka Schakal, Der (1998) (Germany)
Fifth Element, The (1997) .... Korben Dallas
... aka Cinquième élément, Le (1997) (France)
Bruno the Kid: The Animated Movie (1996) (V) .... Bruno the Kid
Beavis and Butt-head Do America (1996)(voice) (uncredited) .... Muddy Grimes
Last Man Standing (1996) .... John Smith/Narrator
"Bruno the Kid" (1996) TV Series(voice) .... Bruno The Kid
Twelve Monkeys (1995) .... James 'Jim' Cole
Four Rooms (1995)(uncredited) .... Leo (segment "The Man from Hollywood")
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) .... Lt. John McClane
... aka Die Hard 3 (1995)
Nobody's Fool (1994) .... Carl Roebuck
Pulp Fiction (1994) .... Butch Coolidge
Color of Night (1994) .... Dr. Bill Capa
North (1994) .... Narrator
Striking Distance (1993) .... Detective Sgt. Tom Hardy, Homicide
Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)(uncredited) .... John McClane, 814 Pacific Coast Highway
... aka National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)
Death Becomes Her (1992) .... Dr. Ernest Menville
... aka Muerte le sienta bien, La (1992) (Argentina)
Player, The (1992) .... Himself
Last Boy Scout, The (1991) .... Joe Cornelius Hallenbeck
Billy Bathgate (1991) .... Bo Weinberg
Siskel & Ebert: Actors on Acting (1991) (TV) .... Himself
Hudson Hawk (1991) .... Eddie 'Hudson Hawk' Hawkins
Mortal Thoughts (1991) .... James Urbanski
Frank Sinatra: The Best Is Yet to Come (1990) (TV)
Bonfire of the Vanities, The (1990) .... Peter Fallow
Look Who's Talking Too (1990)(voice) .... Mikey
Die Hard 2 (1990) .... John McClane
... aka Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990) (promotional title)
That's Adequate (1990) .... Himself
Look Who's Talking (1989)(voice) .... Mikey
... aka Daddy's Home (1989)
In Country (1989) .... Emmett Smith
Return of Bruno, The (1988) .... Bruno Radolini
Die Hard (1988) .... John McClane
Sunset (1988) .... Tom Mix
Blind Date (1987) .... Walter Davis
... aka Blake Edwards' Blind Date (1987) (USA: complete title)
"Moonlighting" (1985) TV Series .... David Addison
Moonlighting (1985) (TV) .... David Addison
Verdict, The (1982)(uncredited) .... Courtroom Observer
Guru kommt, Ein (1980)(uncredited) .... Extra
First Deadly Sin, The (1980)(uncredited) .... Man Entering Diner as Delaney Leaves