Date of Birth

18 April 1947, Vernal, Utah, USA

James Woods grew up in Warwick, Rhode Island, USA, where he graduated from Pilgrim High School in 1965 near the top of his class. Afterwards, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He dropped out to pursue his acting career shortly before his scheduled graduation in 1969.

Leanly built, strangely handsome actor-producer-director with intense eyes, swarthy complexion, and a sometimes untrustworthy grin has been impressing audiences for over three decades with his compelling performances. The son of a US Intelligence officer, he earned a scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, completed a degree in political science, and then headed off to New York to pursue aspirations to appear on the stage. After appearing in a handful of New York City theater productions, Woods scored his first film role in All the Way Home (1971) (TV) and followed that up with meager supporting roles in The Way We Were (1973) and The Choirboys (1977). However, it was Woods cold blooded performance as the cop killer in The Onion Field (1979), based on a Joseph Wambaugh novel, that seized the attention of cinema-goers to his on-screen power.

Woods quickly followed up with another role in another Joseph Wambaugh film adaptation, The Black Marble (1980), as a sleazy and unstable cable-TV-station owner in David Cronenberg's mind-bending and prophetic Videodrome (1983), as gangster Max Bercovicz in Sergio Leones mammoth epic Once Upon a Time in America (1984), and scored a best actor Academy Award nomination as abrasive journalist Richard Boyle in Oliver Stones gritty and unsettling Salvador (1986).

There seemed to be no stopping the rise of this star as he continued to amaze cinema-goers with his remarkable versatility and his ability to create such intense, memorable characters. The decade of the 1990s started off strongly with high praise for his role as Roy Cohn in the TV production of Citizen Cohn (1992) (TV). Woods was equally impressive as slimy hustler Lester Diamond who cons Sharon Stone in Casino (1995), made a tremendous H.R. Haldeman in Nixon (1995), portrayed serial killer Carl Panzram in Killer: A Journal of Murder (1996), and then as accused civil rights assassin Byron De La Beckwith in Ghosts from the Past (1996).

Not to be typecast solely as hostile hoodlums, Woods has further expanded his range to encompass providing voice-overs for animated productions including Hercules (1997), Hooves of Fire (1999) (TV), and Stuart Little 2 (2002). Woods also recently appeared in the critically praised The Virgin Suicides (1999), in the coming-of-age movie Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), as a corrupt medico in Any Given Sunday (1999), and in the comedy-horror spoof Scarier Movie (2001). A remarkable performer with an incredibly diverse range of acting talent, Woods remains one of Hollywood's outstanding leading men.

10/15/98: Received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

A reserve officer in the Los Angeles Police Dept.

He appeared in the music video and sang in the choir on the song "Voices That Care."

Fired his agent for not telling him of Quentin Tarantino's offer to star as Mr. Orange/Freddie in Reservoir Dogs (1992).

Dated actress Heather Graham

Majored in Political Science at M.I.T.

Older brother of actor Michael Jeffrey Woods.

Was allegedly harassed and stalked by Sean Young after their dating relationship ended.

Member of Theta Delta Chi Fraternity.

1997: Was engaged to actress Missy Crider; they met when she played his daughter in the TV movie Jane's House (1994) (TV).

2001: While on a commercial flight from Boston to Los Angeles in August, he noticed a group of men acting suspiciously on the plane and informed a flight attendant that he felt they were planning to hijack the plane. He has thus been in several interviews with FBI agents since the September 11 attacks.

Provided the voice of Carl, the straight-laced rabbit in the pet store across the street from a rental station, in a series of Blockbuster commercials.

Is ambidextrous (as seen in The Virgin Suicides (1999), writes on chalkboard with both hands).

Is the son of a U.S. Army intelligence officer.

The high school in the animated show "Family Guy" (1999) was named after him (James Woods High School).

Visits his family in Rhode Island frequently.

Loves cooking and is an excellent chef.

Enjoys playing golf.

Quit smoking cigarettes in 1993. Played as a man trying to break the habit using drastic, preventive measures in Stephen King's Cat's Eye (1985).

Loves photography.

He was accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a full scholarship, majoring not in the physical sciences but in political science. He also pursued acting, appearing in 36 plays at MIT, Harvard, and the Theater Company of Boston and also performed in summer stock at the Provincetown Playhouse. He dropped out of MIT during his last year to move to New York and pursue acting full-time.

Got his third TV role, as a thug on "Kojak" (1973), after Richard Dreyfuss and Martin Sheen had turned it down.

Referred to composer Howard Shore as the Bernard Herrmann of the synthesizer.

Is a member of MENSA (as are Geena Davis, Cy Frost, Chino XL, Ben Rollins and Alan Rachins).

He was considered a brilliant student, enrolling in a UCLA linear algebra course while still attending high school. He scored a perfect 800 on the verbal SAT and a 779 on the math portion.

Childhood friend of Wall Street Journal personal technology columnist Walt Mossberg.

Hades from the Disney franchise is his favorite role and he states that he'll continue playing the character, whenever needed, until the day he dies because he loves the character so very much.

Is against capital punishment.

Is good friends with Sharon Stone and told Cigar Aficionado in an interview that he considers her one of the smartest women in the movie business.

Writes with his right hand mostly but does pretty much everything else with his left.

He plays a character who works for Richard Nixon in Nixon (1995) and played one of a band of men who wore Nixon masks when they robbed a police depository in Best Seller (1987).

Is an avid video gamer.

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