Born: April 18, 1947
Age: 77
Birthplace: Vernal, Utah, United States
James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor and producer. He is often known for villainous roles, and appeared in a variety of films, including The Onion Field (1979), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Salvador (1986), Casino (1995), Nixon (1995), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Hercules (1997) and White House Down (2013). On television, he is known for acting in Shark (2006-2008).
He was nominated for two Academy Awards and has won one Golden Globe Award. Additionally, he has won three Emmy Awards - for television movies Promise and My Name Is Bill W., and for the animated series Hercules.
His voice work has been heard in The Simpsons, Family Guy, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and in films such as Stuart Little 2 (as Falcon) and Disney's Hercules (as Hades).
Woods was born in Vernal, Utah, and had a brother ten years younger than him. His father, Gail Peyton Woods, was an army intelligence officer who died in 1960 after routine surgery. His mother, Martha A. (née Smith), operated a pre-school after her husband's death and later married Thomas E. Dixon. Woods grew up in Warwick, Rhode Island, where he attended Pilgrim High School, from which he graduated in 1965. He is of part Irish descent and was raised Catholic, briefly serving as an altar boy.
Woods ultimately chose to pursue his undergraduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he majored in political science (though he originally planned a career as an eye surgeon). While at MIT, Woods pledged to Theta Delta Chi Fraternity. He was also an active member of the student theatre group "Dramashop" where he both acted in and directed a number of plays. In order to pursue a career in acting, he dropped out of MIT in 1969 before his graduation. Woods has said that he became an actor thanks to Tim Affleck (father of actor Ben Affleck), who was a stage manager at the Theatre Company of Boston while Woods was a student there.
Woods appeared in thirty-six plays before making his Broadway debut in 1970 at the Lyceum Theatre, in the first US production of Frank McMahon's Borstal Boy. He got the part by pretending he was British. He returned to Broadway the following year to portray David Darst in Daniel Berrigan's The Trial of the Catonsville Nine. In 1971, he played Bob Rettie in the American premiere of Michael Weller's Moonchildren at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. The production moved to Broadway the following year and Woods won a Theatre World Award for his performance. He returned to Broadway in 1973 to portray Steven Cooper in the original production of Jean Kerr's Finishing Touches.
A prominent Hollywood character actor, Woods has appeared in over 130 films and television series as of 2013, beginning with his first television appearance All the Way Home in 1971 and his film debut The Visitors in 1972. He is known for his dark, intense characters and villains. Early examples include his portrayals of a sadistic murderer in 1979's The Onion Field, and of serial killer Carl Panzram in 1994's Killer: A Journal of Murder. He appeared in an episode of The Rockford Files, playing a son whose parents were murdered. He has been twice nominated for an Academy Award: first, for Best Actor, for playing a journalist chronicling events in El Salvador in the early Oliver Stone film Salvador (1986), and again in 1996, for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance as real-life white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith in drama Ghosts of Mississippi. One of his favorite film roles is Max, the domineering gangster, in Sergio Leone's epic Once Upon a Time in America (1984). In 1995, Woods took the role of pimp Lester Diamond in Martin Scorsese's Casino. That same year, he portrayed H. R. Haldeman in Nixon, the biopic of Richard M. Nixon, directed by Oliver Stone. In one of his most prominent television roles, Woods starred in the CBS legal drama series Shark, which ran for two seasons between 2006 and 2008. He played an infamous defense lawyer who, after growing disillusioned when his client commits a murder, becomes a successful prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office.
Woods was offered a leading role in the low-budget film Reservoir Dogs, but his agent rejected the script without showing it to the actor. When Woods learned of this some time later, he fired his agents (CAA), replacing them with ICM. In 2006, Woods starred in End Game. He makes a cameo appearance as himself in the first episode of the third season of Entourage. In 2011, Woods appeared as Richard S. Fuld, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers, in HBO's Too Big to Fail, for which he gained an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Mini-series or Movie.
Woods has lent his voice talents to many animated television shows and feature films. He garnered critical praise for his voice work as Hades in the 1997 Disney film Hercules and he won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2000 for the role in the follow-up television series (for the 1999 season). He also voiced Phillium Benedict, the twisted former headmaster who attempts to abolish summer vacation in the 2001 film, Recess: School's Out. He also appeared as a fictional version of himself in the episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homer and Apu" and in seven episodes of Family Guy, which is set in Woods's home state of Rhode Island. Other references in Family Guy include the local high school, James Woods High School, and a forest named James Woods mentioned in the episode "The Fat Guy Strangler". In 2004, Woods voiced Jallak in the animated film Ark and Mike Toreno in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
During a press interview for Kingdom Hearts II, Woods noted that he is an avid video game player. He is a dealer of antiques in Rhode Island. On December 14, 2015, while Woods was driving alone westbound through an ice storm on Interstate 70 in Glenwood Canyon, Colorado, a driver who was speeding lost control and crashed into five other cars. Woods swerved his Jeep Grand Cherokee to avoid the accident and collided with a retaining wall, but slid backwards into a guard rail 100 feet (30 m) above the Colorado River. Woods suffered a minor concussion from the accident.
Woods is an avid poker player, playing in cash games and many tournaments. He played in the WPT's Hollywood Home Game series in 2004 for the American Stroke Association charity. As of 2015, he has to his credit over 35 major event finishes, including a seventh place at the 2015 World Series of Poker in the $3000 No Limit Shootout event.
In 1988, Woods sued Sean Young for $2 million, accusing her of stalking him after they appeared together in the movie The Boost. Young later countered that Woods had overreacted after she had spurned his advances on set. The suit was settled out of court in August 1989. Young was awarded $227,000 to cover her legal costs.
On July 26, 2006, Woods' younger brother, Michael Jeffrey Woods, died from cardiac arrest at the age of 49. Woods sued Kent Hospital in Warwick, Rhode Island, alleging negligence. The suit was settled in 2009.
On July 30, 2015, he sued a Twitter user for $10 million over an allegedly libelous tweet. In Oct 2015 James Woods lost his legal bid to learn who was behind the Twitter account who accused him of being a ‘Cocaine Addict.'However, on February 2, 2016, Judge Mel Recana gave the go ahead to pursue the case further. It is believed that this will force Twitter to reveal the identity of the anonymous user.
Woods's name was in an advertisement in the Los Angeles Times (August 17, 2006) that condemned Hamas and Hezbollah and supported Israel in the 2006 Lebanon War. He has become well known for supporting conservative political views on Twitter. Early in the 2016 presidential race, Woods endorsed Carly Fiorina for the Republican nomination. However, in November 2015, Woods decided to endorse Sen. Ted Cruz.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1972 | The Visitors | Bill Schmidt | |
1972 | Hickey & Boggs | Lt. Wyatt | |
1973 | The Way We Were | Frankie McVeigh | |
1974 | The Gambler | Bank Officer | |
1975 | Night Moves | Quentin | |
1976 | The Billion Dollar Bubble | Art Lewis | |
1976 | Alex & the Gypsy | Crainpool | |
1977 | The Choirboys | Harold Bloomguard | |
1979 | The Onion Field | Gregory Ulas Powell | |
1980 | The Black Marble | The Fiddler | |
1981 | Eyewitness | Aldo Mercer | |
1982 | Fast-Walking | Fast-Walking | |
1982 | Split Image | Charles Pratt | |
1983 | Videodrome | Max Renn | |
1984 | Against All Odds | Jake Wise | |
1984 | Once Upon a Time in America | Maximilian 'Max' Bercovicz | |
1985 | Cat's Eye | Dick Morrison | |
1985 | Joshua Then and Now | Joshua Shapiro | |
1986 | Salvador | Richard Boyle | |
1987 | Best Seller | Cleve | |
1988 | Cop | Lloyd Hopkins | Also producer |
1988 | The Boost | Lenny Brown | |
1989 | True Believer | Eddie Dodd | |
1989 | Immediate Family | Michael Spector | |
1991 | The Hard Way | Detective Lt. John Moss, NYPD | |
1992 | Straight Talk | Jack Russell | |
1992 | Diggstown | Gabriel Caine | |
1992 | Chaplin | Joseph Scott | |
1994 | The Getaway | Jack Benyon | |
1994 | Curse of the Starving Class | Weston Tate | |
1994 | The Specialist | Ned Trent | |
1995 | For Better or Worse | Reggie Makeshift | |
1995 | Killer: A Journal of Murder | Carl Panzram | |
1995 | Casino | Lester Diamond | |
1995 | Nixon | H. R. Haldeman | |
1996 | Ghosts of Mississippi | Byron De La Beckwith | |
1997 | Kicked in the Head | Uncle Sam | |
1997 | Hercules | Hades (voice) | |
1997 | Contact | Michael Kitz | |
1998 | Vampires | Jack Crow | |
1998 | Another Day in Paradise | Mel | Also producer |
1999 | True Crime | Alan Mann | |
1999 | The Virgin Suicides | Ronald Lisbon | |
1999 | Hercules: Zero to Hero | Hades (voice) | Direct-to-video |
1999 | The General's Daughter | Col. Robert Moore | |
1999 | Any Given Sunday | Dr. Harvey Mandrake | |
1999 | Play It to the Bone | Ringside Fan | |
2001 | Recess: School's Out | Dr. Philliam "Phil" Benedict (voice) | |
2001 | Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within | General Hein (voice) | |
2001 | Scary Movie 2 | Father McFeely | |
2001 | Riding in Cars with Boys | Mr. Leonard Donofrio | |
2001 | Race to Space | Dr. Wilhelm von Huber | |
2002 | John Q | Dr. Raymond Turner | |
2002 | Stuart Little 2 | Falcon (voice) | |
2002 | Mickey's House of Villains | Hades (voice) | Direct-to-video |
2002 | Rolie Polie Olie:The Great Defender of Fun | Gloominus Maximus (voice) | Replaced by Paul Haddad |
2003 | Northfork | Walter O'Brien | Also executive producer |
2003 | This Girl's Life | Pops | |
2005 | Pretty Persuasion | Hank Joyce | |
2005 | Be Cool | Tommy Athens | |
2005 | Ark | Jallak (voice) | |
2006 | End Game | Vaughn Stevens | |
2007 | Surf's Up | Reggie Belafonte (voice) | |
2008 | Big Fat Important Movie | Agent Grosslight | |
2010 | Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths | Owlman (voice) | Direct-to-video |
2011 | Straw Dogs | Tom Heddon | |
2012 | Officer Down | Captain Verona | |
2013 | White House Down | Martin Walker | |
2013 | Jobs | Dean Jack Dudman | |
2014 | Jamesy Boy | Lt. Falton |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1974 | Kojak | Caz | Episode: "Death Is Not a Passing Grade" |
1974 | The Rockford Files | Larry Kirkoff | Episode: "The Kirkoff Case" |
1975 | Welcome Back, Kotter | Alex Welles | Episode: "The Great Debate" |
1975 | The Streets of San Francisco | Doug | Episode: "Trail of Terror" |
1975 | The Rookies | Ted Ayres | Episode: "A Time to Mourn" |
1976 | Barnaby Jones | Danny Reeves | Episode: "Sins of Thy Father" |
1976 | The Disappearance of Aimee | Asst. Disty. Atty. Joseph Ryan | Movie |
1976 | Police Story | Lewis Packer | Episode: "Thanksgiving" |
1976 | Raid on Entebbe | Capt. Sammy Berg | Movie |
1977 | Family | Dr. Robert Styles | Episode: "An Eye to the Future" |
1978 | Holocaust | Karl Weiss | 4 episodes |
1979 | The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel | Sin Eater | Movie |
1979-1980 | Young Maverick | Lem Fraker | 2 episodes |
1985 | Badge of the Assassin | Robert K. Tannenbaum, Assistant District Attorney | Movie |
1986 | Promise | D.J. | Movie |
1987 | In Love and War | James B. 'Jim' Stockdale | Movie |
1989 | My Name Is Bill W. | Bill Wilson | Movie |
1991 | The Boys | Walter Farmer | Movie |
1992 | Citizen Cohn | Roy Cohn | Movie |
1993 | Dream On | Dennis Youngblood | Episode: "Oral Sex, Lies and Videotape" |
1993 | Fallen Angels | Mickey Cohen | Episode: "Since I Don't Have You" |
1994 | Jane's House | Paul Clark | Movie |
1994 | The Simpsons | Himself (voice) | Episode: "Homer and Apu" |
1994 | Next Door | Matt Coler | Movie |
1995 | Indictment: The McMartin Trial | Danny Davis | Movie |
1996 | The Summer of Ben Tyler | Temple Rayburn | Movie |
1998-1999 | Hercules: The Animated Series | Hades (voice) | 27 episodes |
2000 | Dirty Pictures | Dennis Barrie | Movie |
2001 | Clerks: The Animated Series | Major Baklava (voice) | Episode: "Leonardo Is Caught in the Grip of an Outbreak of Randal's Imagination and Patrick Swayze Either Does or Doesn't Work in the New Pet Store" |
2001-2002 | House of Mouse | Hades (voice) | 10 episodes |
2003 | Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story | Rudy Giuliani | Movie |
2005 | Odd Job Jack | Manny Kowalski | Episode: "Orgy: The Musical" |
2005-2014 | Family Guy | Himself (voice) | 7 episodes |
2006 | ER | Dr. Nate Lennox | Episode: "Body & Soul" |
2006 | Entourage | Himself | Episode: "Aquamom" |
2006-2008 | Shark | Sebastian Stark | 38 episodes |
2009 | iCarly | Security Guard #2 | Episode: "iWant My Website Back" |
2011 | Too Big to Fail | Richard Fuld | Movie |
2012 | Coma | Dr. Theodore Stark | 2 episodes |
2013 | Mary and Martha | Tom | Movie |
2013 | Ray Donovan | Patrick Sullivan | 6 episodes |
2016 | Justice League Action | Lex Luthor (voice) | Pre-production |
Year | Title | Voice role |
---|---|---|
1997 | Hercules | Hades |
2002 | Kingdom Hearts | |
2004 | Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas | Mike Toreno |
2005 | Kingdom Hearts II | Hades |
2006 | Scarface: The World Is Yours | George Sheffield |
2007 | Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ | Hades |
2010 | Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep | |
2011 | Kingdom Hearts Re:coded | |
2012 | Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom |
Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards | Best Supporting Actor | The Onion Field | Won |
1980 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama | The Onion Field | Nominated |
1980 | National Society of Film Critics | Best Supporting Actor | The Onion Field | Nominated |
1980 | New York Film Critics Circle | Best Supporting Actor | The Onion Field | Nominated |
1987 | Academy Awards | Best Actor | Salvador | Nominated |
1987 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film | Promise | Won |
1987 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | Promise | Won |
1987 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Male Lead | Salvador | Won |
1988 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film | In Love and War | Nominated |
1988 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Male Lead | Best Seller | Nominated |
1989 | Independent Spirit Awards | Best Male Lead | The Boost | Nominated |
1989 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | My Name Is Bill W. | Won |
1990 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Nominated |
1993 | CableACE Awards | Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | Citizen Cohn | Nominated |
1993 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film | Citizen Cohn | Nominated |
1993 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | Citizen Cohn | Nominated |
1994 | CableACE Awards | Best Actor in a Drama Series | Fallen Angels | Nominated |
1995 | CableACE Awards | Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | Indictment: The McMartin Trial | Nominated |
1995 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | Indictment: The McMartin Trial | Nominated |
1996 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film | Indictment: The McMartin Trial | Nominated |
1996 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Nixon | Nominated |
1997 | Academy Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Ghosts of Mississippi | Nominated |
1997 | Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Supporting Actor | Ghosts of Mississippi | Nominated |
1997 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture | Ghosts of Mississippi | Nominated |
1997 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film | The Summer of Ben Tyler | Nominated |
1997 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film | The Summer of Ben Tyler | Nominated |
1997 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor - Motion Picture | Killer: A Journal of Murder | Won |
1999 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor | Vampires | Won |
2000 | Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program | Hercules | Won |
2000 | Las Vegas Film Critics Society | Best Supporting Actor | The Virgin Suicides | Nominated |
2001 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film | Dirty Pictures | Nominated |
2001 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film | Dirty Pictures | Won |
2001 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie | Dirty Pictures | Nominated |
2003 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story | Nominated |
2004 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film | Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story | Won |
2006 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
2006 | Satellite Awards | Best Actor - Television Series Drama | Shark | Nominated |
2006 | Spike Video Game Awards | Best Supporting Male Performance | Scarface: The World Is Yours | Nominated |
2011 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie | Too Big to Fail | Nominated |
2011 | Satellite Awards | Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Too Big to Fail | Nominated |
2012 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie | Too Big to Fail | Nominated |