His family life, which started hard, turned professional thanks to his career and talent: Who is Woody Harrelson?

His full name is Woody Tracy Harrelson, he was born on July 23, 1961, in Midland, Texas. He was born the son of mother, secretary Diane Lou Oswald, and father, convicted hitman Charles Voyde Harrelson. Harrelson has two brothers, Jordan and Brett, who are both actors. After his parents divorced in 1964, his mother moved to Lebanon, Ohio, with her children. His father was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1979 and died on March 15, 2007, in the United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility.

Beginning to attend Lebanon High School, Harrelson graduated in 1979. He spent the summer of 1979 working at the Kings Island amusement park, as his family was in financial trouble. He then moved to Indiana, where he attended Hanover College, where he studied theater arts, acting, and English. While there, he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and befriended future vice president Mike Pence. After graduating in 1983, he moved to New York.

Harrelson is best known for his work on the sitcom sitcom TV series "Cheers," which aired on NBC. Joining the cast in the show's fourth season in 1985, Harrelson played the coach's replacement bartender Woody Boyd and has spent the last eight seasons on the show. Harrelson was nominated for five Emmy Awards for his performance and won once in 1989. Additionally, he was the winner of the American Comedy Award.

Meanwhile, he appeared in "Biloxi Blues" (1988), a Broadway production with a screenplay by Neil Simon. Also appearing in plays such as "The Zoo Story", "Brooklyn Laundry", "The Diviners" and "The Boys Next Door", Harrelson also wrote a play about basketball called "2 On 2".

While still working on Cheers, he began his film career in 1986 with a role in his first film, the sports comedy "Wildcats", in which Goldie Hawn and Wesley Snipes also starred. He followed this performance with the romantic comedy movie "Cool Blue"(1990) with Hank Azaria. The following year, he caught the attention of Adrian Lyne with his performances in the 1991 movie Michael J. Fox's romantic comedy "Doc Hollywood."

Harrelson later appeared in the sports comedy "White Men Can't Jump" (1992), in which he again starred with Wesley Snipes. With the surprise success of the movie at the box office, Harrelson got a good start. In 1993, Harrelson starred in the erotic drama film "Indecent Proposal" with Robert Redford and Demi Moore. The film was a box office success and grossed hugely worldwide. This performance earned Harrelson the MTV Movie Award for best kiss in 1994 and opened the door to starring in his next movie.

He then shared the lead roles with Juliette Lewis in the crime film "Natural Born Killers" (1994), directed by Oliver Stone. Playing the role of Mickey Knox in the movie, Harrelson brought an insane sincerity and sinister wit to the role. That same year, he co-starred with Keifer Sutherland in the action western comedy film "The Cowboy Way" (1994), directed by Gregg Champion. The following year, he reunited with Wesley Snipes in the action comedy "Money Train" (1995).

Then, in the crime drama movie "The Sunchaser"(1996) directed by Michael Cimino, he portrayed the character of Dr. Michael Raynolds. Later that year, he starred in the sports comedy "Kingpin" directed by the Farrelly brothers. Harrelson's career was boosted by his role as Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt in the biographical drama film "The People vs. Larry Flynt" directed by Miloš Forman. The film was a success and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.

After that, Harrelson began to appear in more serious movie roles. He appeared as Sergeant Schumann in the 1997 war drama film "Welcome to Sarajevo" and also in the political satire black comedy "Wag the Dog" the same year. Also that year, he appeared in the 1997 family movie "Road to Manhattan" as Will Huffman. The following year, Harrelson starred in the neo-noir thriller "Palmetto" alongside Elisabeth Shue and Gina Gershon. Later, Harrelson appeared in the western movie "The Hi-Lo Country" with Penelope Cruz.

In 1999, Harrelson directed his own play, "Farthest from the Sun," at the Theater de la Jeune Lune in Minneapolis. Later that year, he reprized the role of Sergeant Keck in "The Thin Red Line," a war movie directed by Terrence Malick. For his performance, he was nominated for seven Academy Awards. He then played the role of Ray Pekurny in the hivic comedy movie "EDtv". He also starred as boxer Vince Boudreau in the 1999 sports comedy drama film "Play It to the Bone" directed by Ron Shelton. That same year, Harrelson made a guest appearance on the spin-off success tv sitcom "Frasier," in which he reprized the role of Woody Boyd. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance.

In 2000, the Broadway revival of Roundabout was followed by N.Richard Nash's play "The Rainmaker", followed by Sam Shepard's "The Late Henry Moss" in 2001. He then appeared in the television sitcom "Will & Grace" as Nathan, Grace's new boyfriend, in several episodes of 2001. He also appeared in John Kolvenbach's "A Mean Day" with Kyle MacLachlan in London's West End in the fall of 2002. In the summer of 2003, Harrelson also directed the Toronto premiere of Kenneth Lonergan's "This is Our Youth" at the Berkley Street Theatre.

Harrelson was not seen in films again until 2003, when he starred as Galaxia in the friendly comedy "Anger Management". The following year, he appeared in the heist action comedy film "After the Sunset" and the independent comedy drama film "She Hate Me" (2004), directed by Spike Lee.

In 2005, Harrelson appeared in the black comedy film "The Big White" and the drama film "North Country." Also that year, he appeared in the biopic "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" as Kelly Ryan, the husband of a competition-obsessed woman. The following year, Harrelson appeared in the computer-animated comedy film version of "Free Jimmy" and the adult animated psychological science fiction thriller "A Scanner Darkly."

The following year, he starred in exclusive Washington D.C. in the independent crime drama "The Walker." He played the role of Carter Page III, the women's gay escort. He later appeared in a key role as Carson Wells, a bounty hunter, in a detective crime thriller "No Country for Old Men." The Oscar-winning film received the Best Picture and Best Director awards for directors Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. Harrelson won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Cast for the movie starring alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Kelly Macdonald.

In 2007, he played another major role as a Seattle police officer in the political action-thriller "Battle in Seattle." The following year, Harrelson starred in a cast that included Will Ferrell in the basketball sports comedy "Semi-Pro" and in the drama movie "Seven Pounds" starring Will Smith as Ezra Turner, a blind vegan meat salesman.

On the November 12, 2009 episode of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, Harrelson interviewed Stephen Colbert to promote the war drama film "The Messenger" (2009). Harrelson received critical acclaim for his role as Captain Tony Stone in "The Messenger." This role earned him nominations for a Satellite Award, an Independent Spirit Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Harrelson also won Best Supporting Actor at the 2009 National Board of Review awards ceremonies. Additionally, he was hailed and praised by many critics and critics' communities as his best role.

In the same year, he got the lead role in the zombie horror comedy "Zombieland". He then played Charlie Frost, who warns of the end of the world, in the science fiction disaster film "2012" directed by Roland Emmerich. The following year, he starred as a bartender and mentor in the futuristic western martial arts action movie "Bunraku".

In 2011, he portrayed the character of Tommy in the romantic comedy movie "Friends with Benefits". Harrelson talked about his 2011 documentary film "ETHOS", which explores the idea of a modern society. The following year, he played Haymitch Abernathy in the dystopian action movie "The Hunger Games," and reprized the role in the next three sequels to the series. Also that year, he starred in the movie "Game Change" as republican strategist Steve Schmidt.

In 2013, he appeared in the crime thriller "Now You See Me" directed by Louis Leterrier and its sequel, "Now You See Me: The Second Act". The first film was a success at the box office, although it received mixed reviews.

Harrelson returned to television in 2014, co-starring with Matthew McConaughey in the first season of the HBO anthology crime drama TV series "True Detective." In this series, he appeared as Marty Hart, the Louisiana cop investigating the murders. In 2015, Harrelson and his daughter Zoe starred in a 7-minute short for the U2 rock band 'Song for Some'. In 2016, he announced that he would direct, write, produce and star in the biographical comedy-drama film "Lost in London", which was shot as a one-shot and premiered live on January 19, 2017.

Harrelson played police chief Bill Willoughby in the 2017 black comedy crime movie "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor for his performance. In 2017, he appeared in the science fiction film "War for the Planet of the Apes" as the enemy Colonel and in the biographical comedy-drama film "The Glass Castle" based on the memoirs of Jeannette Walls.

In 2018, Harrelson starred as Tobias Beckett, a criminal and Han Solo's mentor, in the Lucasfilm space western "Solo: A Star Wars Story." That same year, he appeared in a role playing Cletus Kasady at the end of the superhero movie "Venom." In 2019, he co-starred with Kevin Costner in the period crime thriller "The Highwaymen." That same year, he appeared as Admiral Chester Nimitz in the blockbuster war movie "Midway" directed by Roland Emmerich. Also that year, he reprized his role as Tallahassee in the sequel to "Zombieland 2: Double Tap."

He also reappeared in the role of the main antagonist, voicing the symbiote Carnage, who joined Kasady in the 2021 sequel, "Venom: Let There Be Carnage." In March 2021, he will play Felix Kersten alongside Kevin Costner in "The Man with the Miraculous Hands," based on Joseph Kessel's novel of the same name.

In 2023, Harrelson will star in the HBO satirical political drama tv mini-limited series "White House Plumbers" (2023), in which David Mandel will play intelligence officer E. Howard Hunt. The series will also focus on the Watergate scandal and its investigation. He will also be the executive producer of the series.

Private life

In 1985, Harrelson married Nancy Simon in Tijuana. Not aiming for their union, the couple planned to divorce the two of them the next day. However, they stayed married for ten more months after the marriage/divorce hall was closed. He got married in 2008 with Laura Louie, one of the co-founders of organic food delivery service Yoganics, whom he met while working in 1987. Harrelson lives with his wife and three daughters.

In 1990, he was included in People magazine's list of 'the fifty most beautiful people in the world'. In 2014, Harrelson was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Literature from Hanover College. Harrelson is also a fan of the game of chess and the Cincinnati Bengals football team. He also has a white belt by training Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Following a raw vegan diet, Harrelson does not eat meat or dairy products, nor does she consume sugar or flour. He appeared on a postage stamp in 2011 as one of PETA's 20 famous vegetarians, and was named PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian in 2012.

On 6 June 2010, Harrelson joined to play Soccer Aid 2010 for UNICEF England at Old Trafford in Manchester. The match was broadcast live on England's ITV television. Harrelson scored the final penalty in the penalty shootout after coming in and a 2-2 draw. Moreover, he scored for the "Remain of the World" team to win the match, beating England for the first time since the tournament started.

In May 2022, Harrelson opened "The Woods WeHo," a cannabis dispensary on Melrose Ave in Los Angeles.