Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson (born July 23, 1961 in Midland, Texas) is an American actor, activist from Texas, and "inbred hempseed". His Star-Making Role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd.
Some notable film characters include basketball hustler Billy Hoyle in White Men Can't Jump, a crippled bowler in Kingpin, serial killer Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers, magazine publisher Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt, country singer Dusty in A Prairie Home Companion, bounty hunter Carson Wells in No Country for Old Men, zombie killer Tallahassee in Zombieland, blind piano player/meat salesman Ezra Turner in Seven Pounds, conspiracy nut Charlie Frost in 2012, a mentally-challenged superhero named Defendor in Defendor, Cpt. Tony Stone in The Messenger (2009), Haymitch Abernathy in The Hunger Games, and Merritt McKinney in Now You See Me.
For The People vs. Larry Flynt and The Messenger, Harrelson earned Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.
In 2014, he starred in the HBO crime drama True Detective with Matthew McConaughey.
His younger brother, Brett Harrelson, is an actor in his own right.
He appeared in
- Cheers (1985-1993)
- Wildcats (1986)
- L.A. Story (1991)
- Doc Hollywood (1991)
- White Men Can't Jump (1992)
- Indecent Proposal (1993)
- Natural Born Killers (1994)
- Money Train (1995)
- The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
- Kingpin (1996)
- Wag the Dog (1997)
- Welcome to Sarajevo (1997)
- The Thin Red Line (1998)
- Frasier (1999)
- Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
- Scorched (2003)
- Anger Management (2003)
- After the Sunset (2004)
- North Country (2005)
- A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
- A Scanner Darkly (2006)
- Free Jimmy (2006)
- No Country for Old Men (2007)
- Battle In Seattle (2007)
- Semi-Pro (2008)
- Transsiberian (2008)
- Seven Pounds (2008)
- The Messenger (2009)
- Defendor (2009)
- Zombieland (2009)
- Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)
- 2012 (2009)
- Bunraku (2010)
- Friends with Benefits (2011)
- Game Change (2012)
- The Hunger Games (2012)
- Seven Psychopaths (2012)
- Now You See Me (2013)
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
- Out of the Furnace (2013)
- Free Birds (2013) (voice)
- True Detective (2014)
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (2014, 2015)
- Wilson (2017)
- War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
- Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
- LBJ (2017)
- Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
- Sony's Spider-Man Universe as Cletus Kasady / Carnage
- Venom (2018)
- Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)
- The Highwaymen (2019)
- Midway (2019)
- Kate (2021)
- Curb Your Enthusiasm (2021)
- The Freak Brothers (2021)
- Triangle of Sadness (2022)
- Champions (2023)
- White House Plumbers (2023)
- Fly Me to the Moon (2024)
Tropes
- Bald of Evil: He's bald and plays a lot of untrustworthy or villainous characters.
- Chronically Killed Actor: Starting with Wag the Dog, he's had a dozen deaths by gunshot (plus two by explosion, one by heart attack, and one by devoured head)
. - Deep South: Harrelson's a born-and-bred Texan, and his characters run the gamut of Southern stereotypes; from well-meaning bumpkin Woody Boyd to Ax-Crazy Jerk with a Heart of Gold Tallahassee to psychotic serial killers Mickey Knox and Cletus Kasady.
- Granola Guy: He's a well-known vegan and animal rights activist as well as an environmentalist and a supporter of drug reform.
- Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Tends to keep his natural Texas accent, no matter the role and even when playing real-life non-Texans.
- The Stoner: The man enjoys his weed.
- Those Two Actors: Being in the industry for so long, he co-starred with many actors and actresses more than once.
- He seems to like to work with Matthew McConaughey; it helps that they both look alike, as they played brothers quite convincingly in Ed TV.
- He's been in three films with fellow Texan Tommy Lee Jones.
- Typecasting: Since his Career Resurrection, has notably played quite a few grizzled mentor figures.
- The Unintelligible: Not really, but Woody has a tendency to mumble his lines, which has led to people thinking of him as this.
