Biography

One of Hollywood's most intense supporting and leading actors, James Woods has built a distinguished career on stage, screen, and television. Early in his career, Woods, with his lean body, close-set eyes, and narrow, acne-scarred face, specialized in playing sociopaths, psychopaths, and other crazed villains, but in the 1990s, he added a sizable number of good guys to his resumé.

The son of a military man, Woods was born in Vermal, UT, on April 14, 1947. Thanks to his father's job, he had a peripatetic childhood, living in four states and on the island of Guam. As a young man, he earned a scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; after obtaining a degree in political science, he set out to become a professional actor in New York. While in school he had appeared in numerous plays at M.I.T., Harvard, and with the Theater Company of Boston, as well as at the Provincetown Playhouse on Rhode Island. After working off-Broadway, Woods debuted on Broadway in 1970, appearing in Borstal Boy. Off-Broadway, he earned an Obie for his work in Saved.

In 1971, the actor made his first television appearance in All the Way Home, and the year after that debuted in Elia Kazan's thriller The Visitors (1972). He then played a small part in The Way We Were (1973), but did not become a star until he played a vicious, remorseless cop killer in The Onion Field (1979). Subsequent film appearances quickly established Woods as a scene stealer, and though not among Tinseltown's most handsome actors, he developed a base of devoted female fans who found his rugged, ruthless appearance sexy. This appearance would serve him well throughout his career, notably in one of his first major films, David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983). Cast as the film's morally ambiguous hero, Woods gave a brilliantly intense performance that was further enhanced by his rough-hewn physical attributes.

Throughout the 1980s, Woods continued to turn in one solid performance after another, earning a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of an American journalist in South America in Oliver Stone's Salvador (1986). He gave another remarkable performance as a Jewish gangster in Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984), and in 1989 tried his hand at playing nice in the adoption drama Immediate Family. That same year, he won an Emmy for his portrayal of Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson in My Name Is Bill W. After beginning the subsequent decade with an Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated performance in the title role of the made-for-TV Citizen Cohn (1992), Woods appeared in a diverse series of films, playing a boxing promoter in Diggstown (1992), H.R. Haldeman in Nixon (1995), a drug dealer in Another Day in Paradise (1998), and a vampire slayer in John Carpenter's Vampires. In 1996, he won his second Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Medger Evers' suspected assassin in Ghosts of Mississippi. In 1999, the actor continued to demonstrate his versatility in a number of high-profile films. For The General's Daughter, he played a shady colonel, while he appeared as a newspaper editor in Clint Eastwood's True Crime, the head of an emotionally disintegrating Michigan family in The Virgin Suicides, and a football team orthopedist in Oliver Stone's Any Given Sunday. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmography

Rudy! (2003) (TV) .... Rudolph 'Rudy' Giuliani
This Girl's Life (2003) .... Pops
Northfork (2003) .... Walter O'Brien
Behind the Scenes of 'John Q' (2002) (V) .... Himself
Mickey's House of Villains (2002) (V) (voice) .... Hades
Rolie Polie Olie the Great Defender of Fun (2002) (V) (voice) .... Gloomius Maximus
Return to the Onion Field, The (2002) (V) .... Himself
Stuart Little 2 (2002) (voice) .... Falcon
Founding Brothers (2002) (TV) (voice) .... John Adams
Kingdom Hearts (2002) (VG) (voice) .... Hades
John Q (2002) .... Dr. Raymond Turner
... aka John Q. (2002) (USA: poster title)
2001 IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards, The (2001) (TV)
Race to Space (2001) .... Dr. Wilhelm Von Huber
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) .... Mr. Leonard D'Onofrio
America: A Tribute to Heroes (2001) (TV) .... Himself
Scary Movie 2 (2001) .... Father McFeely
... aka Scarier Movie (2001) (UK)
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001) (voice) .... General Hein
... aka Fainaru fantaji (2001) (Japan)
Recess: School's Out (2001) (voice) .... Benedict
"House of Mouse" (2001) TV Series (voice) .... Hades
"Founding Fathers" (2000) (mini) TV Series (voice) .... John Adams
Dirty Pictures (2000) (TV) .... Dennis
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars (1999) (TV) .... Himself
Hercules: Zero to Hero (1999) (V) (voice) .... Hades: Lord of the Dead
World's Deadliest Earthquakes (1999) (TV) .... Host
Hooves of Fire (1999) (TV) (voice: USA version) .... Narrator
... aka Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire (1999) (TV)
Play It to the Bone (1999) .... Himself (ringside fan)
... aka Play It (1999) (USA: promotional title)
Any Given Sunday (1999) .... Dr. Harvey Mandrake
General's Daughter, The (1999) .... Col. Robert Moore
... aka Wehrlos - Die Tochter des Generals (1999) (Germany)
Virgin Suicides, The (1999) .... Mr. Lisbon
... aka Sofia Coppola's the Virgin Suicides (2000) (USA: complete title)
True Crime (1999) .... Alan Mann
Another Day in Paradise (1998) .... Mel
"Hercules" (1998) TV Series (voice) .... Hades: Lord of the Underworld
... aka "Disney's Hercules" (1998) (USA)
Vampires (1998) .... Jack Crow
... aka John Carpenter's Vampires (1998) (USA: complete title)
... aka Vampire$ (1998) (USA)
Of Light and Darkness (1998) (VG) .... Voice of Gar Hob
America's Endangered Species: Don't Say Good-bye (1998) (TV) .... Narrator
Hercules (1997/II) (VG) (voice) .... Hades: Lord of the Dead
Contact (1997) .... Michael Kitz, National Security Advisor
Hercules (1997) (voice) .... Hades; Lord of the Underworld
American Film Institute Salute to Martin Scorsese, The (1997) (TV) .... Himself
Kicked in the Head (1997) .... Uncle Sam
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) .... Byron De La Beckwith
... aka Ghosts From the Past (1996)
Summer of Ben Tyler, The (1996) (TV) .... Temple Rayburn
Killer: A Journal of Murder (1996) .... Carl Panzram
... aka Killer, The (1996)
For Better or Worse (1996) .... Reggie Makeshift
Nixon (1995) .... H. R. Haldeman
Casino (1995) .... Lester Diamond
... aka Casino (1995) (France)
Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995) (TV) .... Danny Davis
Specialist, The (1994) .... Ned Trent
... aka Especialista, El (1994) (Peru)
Curse of the Starving Class (1994) .... Weston Tate
Next Door (1994) (TV) .... Matt Coler
Getaway, The (1994) .... Jack Benyon
Jane's House (1994) (TV) .... Paul Clark
"Fallen Angels" (1993) TV Series .... Mickey Cohen (Since I Don't Have You)
Chaplin (1992) .... Lawyer Scott
... aka Charlot (1992) (Italy)
Citizen Cohn (1992) (TV) .... Roy Marcus Cohn
Diggstown (1992) .... Gabriel Caine
... aka Midnight Sting (1992)
Straight Talk (1992) .... Jack Russell
Voices that Care (1991) (TV) .... Host & Chor Member
Boys, The (1991) (TV) .... Walter Farmer
... aka Guys, The (1991) (TV)
Hard Way, The (1991) .... Detective Lt. John Moss, NYPD
Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (1990) (TV) .... Robert
5th Annual American Cinema Awards (1990) (TV) .... Himself
Immediate Family (1989) .... Michael Spector
My Name Is Bill W. (1989) (TV) .... Bill Wilson
True Believer (1989) .... Eddie Dodd
... aka Fighting Justice (1989)
Boost, The (1988) .... Lenny
Cop (1988) .... Lloyd Hopkins
Funny, You Don't Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville (1987) (TV) .... Himself
Best Seller (1987) .... Cleve
In Love and War (1987) (TV) .... James B. 'Jim' Stockdale
Promise (1986) (TV) .... D.J.
Salvador (1986) .... Richard Boyle
Badge of the Assassin (1985) (TV) .... Robert K. Tannenbaum, Assistant District Attorney
Joshua Then and Now (1985) .... Joshua Shapiro
Cat's Eye (1985) .... Richard 'Dick' Morrison (segment "Quitter's Inc.")
... aka Stephen King's Cat's Eye (1985)
Terror in the Aisles (1984) (archive footage) .... Max Renn (segment "Videodrome")
... aka Time for Terror (1984) (Europe: video title English title)
Against All Odds (1984) .... Jake Wise
Once Upon a Time in America (1984) .... Maximilian 'Max' Bercovicz
... aka C'era una volta in America (1984) (Italy)
Videodrome (1983) .... Max Renn
Fast-Walking (1982) .... Fast-Walking
Split Image (1982) .... Charles Pratt
... aka Captured (1982) (Canada: English title)
... aka Envoûtement, L' (1982) (Canada: French title)
Eyewitness (1981) .... Aldo Mercer
... aka Janitor, The (1981)
Black Marble, The (1980) .... The Fiddler
Onion Field, The (1979) .... Gregory Powell
And Your Name Is Jonah (1979) (TV) .... Danny Corelli
Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel, The (1979) (TV) .... Sin Eater
Gift of Love, The (1978) (TV) .... Alfred Browning
"Holocaust" (1978) (mini) TV Series .... Karl Weiss
Choirboys, The (1977) .... Harold Bloomguard
... aka Änglarna (1977)
Raid on Entebbe (1977) (TV) .... Captain Sammy Berg
Billion Dollar Bubble, The (1976)
Disappearance of Aimee, The (1976) (TV) .... Assistant District Attorney Joseph Ryan
Alex & the Gypsy (1976) .... Crainpool
... aka Love and Other Crimes (1976)
F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood (1976) (TV) .... Leonard 'Lenny' Schoenfeld
Distance (1975) .... Larry
Foster and Laurie (1975) (TV) .... Addict
Night Moves (1975) .... Quentin
Gambler, The (1974) .... Bank Officer
Way We Were, The (1973) .... Frankie McVeigh
Visitors, The (1972) .... Bill Schmidt
Great American Tragedy, A (1972) (TV) .... Rick
Hickey & Boggs (1972) .... Lieutenant Wyatt
Footsteps (1972) (TV) .... Reporter
... aka Foosteps: Nice Guys Finish Last (1972) (TV) (USA)
... aka Nice Guys Finish Last (1972) (TV)
All the Way Home (1971) (TV) .... Andrew Lynch