
Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actor Woodrow Tracy Harrelson was born on July 23, 1961 in Midland, Texas, to Diane Lou (Oswald) and Charles Harrelson. He grew up in Lebanon, Ohio, where his mother was from. After receiving degrees in theater arts and English from Hanover College, he had a brief stint in New York theater. He was soon cast as Woody on TV series Cheers (1982), which wound up being one of the most-popular TV shows ever and also earned Harrelson an Emmy for his performance in 1989. While he dabbled in film during his time on Cheers (1982), that area of his career didn't fully take off until towards the end of the show's run. In 1991, Doc Hollywood (1991) gave him his first widely-seen movie role, and he followed that up with White Men Can't Jump (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993) and Natural Born Killers (1994). More recently, Harrelson was seen in No Country for Old Men (2007), Zombieland (2009), 2012 (2009), and Friends with Benefits (2011), along with the acclaimed HBO movie Game Change (2012). In 2011, Harrelson snagged the coveted role of fan-favorite drunk Haymitch Abernathy in the big-screen adaptation of The Hunger Games (2012), which ended up being one of the highest-grossing movies ever at the domestic box office. Harrelson is set to reprise that role for the sequels, which are scheduled for release in November 2013, 2014 and 2015. Harrelson has received two Academy Award nominations, first for his role as controversial Hustler founder Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and then for a role in The Messenger (2009). He also received Golden Globe nominations for both of these parts. In 2016, he had a stand-out role as a wise teacher in the teen drama The Edge of Seventeen (2016). Harrelson was briefly married to Nancy Simon in the 80s, and later married his former assistant, Laura Louie, with whom he has three daughters.
Movie | Now You See Me 3 | Merritt McKinney | 2024 |
Movie | Fruitloops | 2024 | |
Series | White House Plumbers | E. Howard Hunt | 2024 |
Movie | Breakthrough | Narrator | 2022-05-19 |
Movie | Triangle of Sadness | Captain Thomas Smith | 2022-09-23 |
Movie | The Man from Toronto | The Man From Toronto | 2022-12-23 |
Movie | Kate | Varrick | 2021-09-10 |
Movie | Venom: Let There Be Carnage | Cletus Kasady / Carnage | 2021-09-30 |
Movie | The Men Of Midway | Self | 2020-02-18 |
Movie | The Highwaymen | Manny Gault | 2019-03-15 |
Movie | Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" | Archie Bunker | 2019-05-22 |
Movie | Midway | Admiral Chester W. Nimitz | 2019-11-06 |
Movie | Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times" | Archie Bunker | 2019-12-18 |
Movie | Zombieland: Double Tap | Tallahassee | 2019-10-09 |
Movie | Solo: A Star Wars Story | Tobias Beckett | 2018-05-15 |
Movie | Shock and Awe | Jonathan Landay | 2018-07-13 |
Movie | The Origins of Ebbing | Himself/''Willoughby'' | 2018-06-25 |
Movie | Venom | Cletus Kasady / Carnage | 2018-09-28 |
Movie | Lost in London | Woody Harrelson | 2017-01-19 |
Movie | LBJ | Lyndon B. Johnson | 2017-11-03 |
Movie | War for the Planet of the Apes | The Colonel | 2017-07-11 |
Movie | Wilson | Wilson | 2017-03-24 |
Movie | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri | Bill Willoughby | 2017-12-01 |
Movie | The Glass Castle | Rex Walls | 2017-08-11 |
Movie | Triple 9 | Sergeant Detective Jeffrey Allen | 2016-02-19 |
Movie | Must See TV: An All Star Tribute to James Burrows | Self | 2016-02-21 |
Movie | The Edge of Seventeen | Mr. Bruner | 2016-11-18 |
Movie | The Duel | Abraham Brant | 2016-06-24 |
Movie | Now You See Me 2 | Merritt McKinney / Chase McKinney | 2016-06-02 |
Movie | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 | Haymitch Abernathy | 2015-11-18 |
Movie | The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 | Himself | 2015-03-06 |
Movie | The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 | Haymitch Abernathy | 2014-11-19 |
Series | True Detective | Martin Hart | 2014-01-12 |
Movie | Now You See Me | Merritt McKinney | 2013-05-29 |
Movie | Free Birds | Jake (voice) | 2013-10-30 |
Movie | David Blaine: Real or Magic | Himself | 2013-11-19 |
Movie | Out of the Furnace | Harlan DeGroat | 2013-12-06 |
Movie | The Hunger Games: Catching Fire | Haymitch Abernathy | 2013-11-15 |
Movie | Seven Psychopaths | Charlie Costello | 2012-10-12 |
Movie | Game Change | Steve Schmidt | 2012-03-09 |
Movie | How to Make Money Selling Drugs | Self | 2012-09-07 |
Movie | The World Is Watching: Making the Hunger Games | Himself | 2012-08-18 |
Movie | The Hunger Games | Haymitch Abernathy | 2012-03-12 |
Movie | Ethos | Host | 2011-01-01 |
Movie | The (R)evolution of Immortal Technique | Self | 2011-07-01 |
Movie | Rampart | Dave Brown | 2011-11-23 |
Movie | Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis | Self | 2011-12-17 |
Movie | Friends with Benefits | Tommy Bollinger | 2011-07-21 |
Movie | Bunraku | The Bartender | 2010-09-01 |
Movie | 2012: Roland Emmerich - Master of the Modern Epic | Self | 2010-03-02 |
Movie | The End of the World: The Actor's Perspective | Self | 2010-03-02 |
Movie | Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days | Self | 2009-02-01 |
Movie | Management | Jango | 2009-02-08 |
Movie | Miloš Forman - What Doesn't Kill You… | Self | 2009-10-08 |
Movie | Zombieland | Tallahassee | 2009-10-07 |
Movie | Defendor | Arthur Poppington / Defendor | 2009-09-12 |
Movie | 2012 | Charlie Frost | 2009-10-10 |
Movie | The Messenger | Tony Stone | 2009-11-13 |
Movie | TransSiberian | Roy | 2008-01-18 |
Movie | Semi-Pro | Monix | 2008-02-28 |
Movie | Surfer, Dude | Jack | 2008-09-05 |
Movie | Seven Pounds | Ezra Turner | 2008-12-18 |
Movie | No Country for Old Men: Josh Brolin's Unauthorized Behind the Scenes | Himself | 2008-03-11 |
Movie | Hempsters: Plant the Seed | Himself | 2008-05-25 |
Movie | Sleepwalking | Randall | 2008-03-14 |
Movie | Nanking | Bob Wilson | 2007-02-10 |
Movie | The Walker | Carter Page III | 2007-02-13 |
Series | The Graham Norton Show | Himself | 2007-02-22 |
Movie | No Country for Old Men | Carson Wells | 2007-06-13 |
Movie | Battle in Seattle | Dale | 2007-09-07 |
Movie | The Grand | One Eyed Jack Faro | 2007-06-07 |
Movie | Raw for Life | Self | 2007-10-16 |
Movie | A Prairie Home Companion | Dusty | 2006-06-09 |
Movie | One Summer in Austin: The Story of Filming 'A Scanner Darkly' | Himself / Luckman | 2006-12-19 |
Movie | A Scanner Darkly | Ernie Luckman | 2006-07-07 |
Movie | Free Jimmy | Roy Arnie (voice) | 2006-04-21 |
Movie | The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio | Kelly Ryan | 2005-09-28 |
Movie | The Outsider | Self | 2005-12-04 |
Movie | The Big White | Raymond Barnell | 2005-10-27 |
Movie | North Country | Bill White | 2005-02-12 |
Movie | After the Sunset | Stan Lloyd | 2004-11-12 |
Movie | She Hate Me | Leland Powell | 2004-07-30 |
Movie | This So-Called Disaster: Sam Shepard Directs "The Late Henry Moss" | Taxi Driver | 2003-01-01 |
Series | Jimmy Kimmel Live! | Unknown | 2003-01-26 |
Series | Real Time with Bill Maher | Unknown | 2003-02-21 |
Series | Celebrities Uncensored | Unknown | 2003-06-04 |
Movie | Scorched | Jason 'Woods' Valley | 2003-05-17 |
Movie | Anger Management | Galaxia / Security Guard Gary | 2003-04-11 |
Movie | Go Further | Himself | 2003-03-07 |
Series | The Ellen DeGeneres Show | Unknown | 2003-09-08 |
Movie | Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me | Woody Harrelson | 1999-06-08 |
Movie | Grass | Narrator (voice) | 1999-09-15 |
Movie | Edtv | Ray Pekurny | 1999-03-26 |
Movie | Play It to the Bone | Vince Boudreau | 1999-12-25 |
Movie | Palmetto | Harry Barber | 1998-02-20 |
Movie | Welcome to Hollywood | Woody Harrelson | 1998-10-01 |
Movie | The Hi-Lo Country | Big Boy Matson | 1998-12-30 |
Movie | The Thin Red Line | Sgt. William Keck | 1998-12-25 |
Series | Will & Grace | Unknown | 1998-09-21 |
Movie | Welcome to Sarajevo | Flynn | 1997-05-09 |
Movie | Wag the Dog | Sergeant William Schumann | 1997-12-25 |
Movie | The Sunchaser | Dr. Michael Reynolds | 1996-05-29 |
Series | E! True Hollywood Story | Unknown | 1996-08-21 |
Series | Spin City | Unknown | 1996-09-17 |
Movie | The People vs. Larry Flynt | Larry Flynt | 1996-12-25 |
Movie | Kingpin | Roy Munson | 1996-07-04 |
Series | The Daily Show with Trevor Noah | Unknown | 1996-07-22 |
Movie | Money Train | Charlie | 1995-11-21 |
Movie | The Cowboy Way | Pepper Lewis | 1994-06-03 |
Movie | Natural Born Killers | Mickey Knox | 1994-08-25 |
Movie | I'll Do Anything | Ground Zero Hero | 1994-02-04 |
Movie | Indecent Proposal | David Murphy | 1993-04-07 |
Series | Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Unknown | 1993-09-13 |
Series | Frasier | Woody Boyd | 1993-09-16 |
Movie | White Men Can't Jump | Billy Hoyle | 1992-03-26 |
Movie | L.A. Story | Harris' Boss | 1991-02-08 |
Movie | Doc Hollywood | Hank Gordon | 1991-08-02 |
Movie | Ted & Venus | Homeless Vietnam Veteran | 1991-08-08 |
Movie | Cool Blue | Dustin | 1990-02-27 |
Movie | The Earth Day Special | Woody Boyd | 1990-04-22 |
Movie | Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Special | Self | 1990-07-01 |
Movie | Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme | Lou the Lamb | 1990-05-19 |
Movie | True Believer | Man in Dodd's office | 1989-02-17 |
Series | The Simpsons | Unknown | 1989-12-17 |
Series | LIVE with Kelly and Ryan | Unknown | 1988-09-05 |
Movie | Killer Instinct | Charlie Long | 1988-11-22 |
Movie | Mickey's 60th Birthday | Woody Boyd | 1988-11-13 |
Movie | She's Having a Baby | Woody Harrelson (uncredited) | 1988-02-05 |
Movie | Bay Coven | Slater | 1987-10-25 |
Movie | Wildcats | Krushinski | 1986-02-14 |
Series | Cheers | Woody Boyd | 1982-09-30 |
Movie | Harper Valley P.T.A. | Extra (uncredited) | 1978-07-02 |
Series | Saturday Night Live | Joe Biden (uncredited) | 1975-10-11 |
Series | The Oscars | Unknown | 1953-03-18 |