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IMDbPro

James Woods(I)

  • Actor
  • Producer
  • Director
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,000175
James Woods
Trailer for Bling
Play trailer2:24
Bling (2016)
42 Videos
99+ Photos
James Howard Woods was born on April 18, 1947 in Vernal, Utah, the son of Martha A. (Smith) and Gail Peyton Woods, a U.S. Army intelligence officer who died during Woods' childhood. James is of Irish, English, and German descent. He grew up in Warwick, Rhode Island, with his mother and stepfather Thomas E. Dixon. He graduated from Pilgrim High School in 1965, near the top of his class. James earned a scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; dropping out during his sophomore year in 1967, he then headed off to New York with his fraternity brother Martin Donovan 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) 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 movie-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-T.V.-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 Stone's gritty and unsettling Salvador (1986).

There seemed to be no stopping the rise of this star as he continued to amaze movie-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 television production of Citizen Cohn (1992). Woods was equally impressive as sneaky 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 (1995), and then as accused civil rights assassin Byron De La Beckwith in Ghosts of Mississippi (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), and Stuart Little 2 (2002). Woods also 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 Scary Movie 2 (2001). A remarkable performer with an incredibly diverse range of acting talent, Woods remains one of Hollywood's outstanding leading men.
BornApril 18, 1947
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornApril 18, 1947
IMDbProStarmeterTop 5,000175
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Nominated for 2 Oscars
    • 21 wins & 39 nominations total

Photos421

Clint Eastwood, James Woods, and Anthony Zerbe in True Crime (1999)
James Woods and Victoria Jackson in Saturday Night Live (1975)
James Woods and James Caan in The Gambler (1974)
James Woods in Playboy Exposed: Playboy Mansion Parties Uncensored (2001)
James Woods in The Virgin Suicides (1999)
James Woods in The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Robert De Niro and James Woods in Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Robert De Niro, James Woods, James Hayden, and Larry Rapp in Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Robert De Niro, James Woods, William Forsythe, Tuesday Weld, and James Hayden in Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Robert De Niro and James Woods in Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
James Woods and J.T. Walsh in Nixon (1995)
James Woods in Nixon (1995)

Known for

Vampires (1998)
Vampires
6.1
  • Jack Crow
  • 1998
James Woods, Danny DeVito, Matt Frewer, Bobcat Goldthwait, Rip Torn, Tate Donovan, Josh Keaton, Roger Bart, and Susan Egan in Hercules (1997)
Hercules
7.3
  • Hades(voice)
  • 1997
Kirsten Dunst in The Virgin Suicides (1999)
The Virgin Suicides
7.2
  • Mr. Lisbon
  • 1999
Videodrome (1983)
Videodrome
7.2
  • Max Renn
  • 1983

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • Kingdom Hearts III (2019)
    Kingdom Hearts III
    • Hades (English version, voice)
    • Video Game
    • 2019
  • Kevin Conroy, Chris Diamantopoulos, Rachel Kimsey, Jason J. Lewis, and Dana Snyder in Justice League Action (2016)
    Justice League Action
    • Lex Luthor
    • Repulse (voice)
    • TV Series
    • 2016–2017
  • Justice League Action Shorts (2017)
    Justice League Action Shorts
    • Lex Luthor (voice)
    • TV Series
    • 2017
  • Andrew Dice Clay in Dice (2016)
    Dice
    • James Woods
    • TV Series
    • 2017
  • Seth Green, Mila Kunis, Alex Borstein, and Seth MacFarlane in Family Guy (1999)
    Family Guy
    • James Woods
    • Family Guy James Woods
    • Simpsons James Woods (voice) ...
    • TV Series
    • 2005–2016
  • First Contact (2016)
    First Contact
    • Narrator (voice)
    • 2016
  • Bling (2016)
    Bling
    • Victor (voice)
    • 2016
  • Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix (2014)
    Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix
    • Hades (English version, voice)
    • Video Game
    • 2014
  • James Woods, Mary-Louise Parker, Ving Rhames, Michael Trotter, Taissa Farmiga, and Spencer Rocco Lofranco in Jamesy Boy (2014)
    Jamesy Boy
    • Lt. Mark Falton
    • 2014
  • Liev Schreiber in Ray Donovan (2013)
    Ray Donovan
    • Sully Sullivan
    • TV Series
    • 2013
  • Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum in White House Down (2013)
    White House Down
    • Walker
    • 2013
  • Mary and Martha (2013)
    Mary and Martha
    • Mary's Father
    • TV Movie
    • 2013
  • Ashton Kutcher in Jobs (2013)
    Jobs
    • Jack Dudman
    • 2013
  • Stephen Dorff in Officer Down (2013)
    Officer Down
    • Captain Verona
    • 2013
  • Robin Lee Maggy in Coma (2012)
    Coma
    • Dr. Howard Stark
    • TV Mini Series
    • 2012

Producer

  • James Woods in Futurescape with James Woods (2013)
    Futurescape with James Woods
    • executive producer
    • TV Series
    • 2013
  • Shark (2006)
    Shark
    • producer
    • TV Series
    • 2007–2008
  • Northfork (2003)
    Northfork
    • executive producer
    • 2003
  • Vincent Kartheiser and Natasha Gregson Wagner in Another Day in Paradise (1998)
    Another Day in Paradise
    • producer (produced by)
    • 1998
  • Cop (1988)
    Cop
    • producer
    • 1988

Director

  • I'm a Stroke (2003)
    I'm a Stroke
    • Director
    • TV Series
    • 2003
  • Falling in Love in Pongo Ponga (2002)
    Falling in Love in Pongo Ponga
    • Director
    • Short
    • 2002
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos44

Hercules (1997)
Clip 1:15
Hercules (1997)
Hercules (1997)
Clip 1:45
Hercules (1997)
Straw Dogs (2011)
Clip 1:20
Straw Dogs (2011)
Pretty Persuasion
Clip 0:43
Pretty Persuasion
Trailer
Trailer 2:06
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 3:30
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:00
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:45
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:34
Official Trailer
Original Trailer
Trailer 2:07
Original Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:58
Official Trailer
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer 2:12
Theatrical Trailer

Personal details

Edit
  • Official sites
    • Gab
    • LinkedIn
  • Height
    • 5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
  • Born
    • April 18, 1947
    • Vernal, Utah, USA
  • Spouses
      Sarah OwenJune 2, 1989 - 1990 (divorced)
  • Parents
      Martha A. Smith
  • Other works
    TV commercial for Blockbuster Video (voiceover).
  • Publicity listings
    • 21 Interviews
    • 10 Articles
    • 2 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Hades from the Disney franchise is his favorite role and he states that he will continue playing the character, whenever needed, until the day he dies because he loves the character so very much.
  • Quotes
    My parents loved each other. I was raised in a house of total love and respect. My dad worked very hard and my mother was incredibly devoted to him. I can unequivocally, without any peradventure of doubt, tell you that I was raised with the kind of love that we only dream of. My mother and my father loved me and my brother like we love the air we breathe--out of necessity. It was a necessity for them to love us in some deep inner genetic calling in their hearts and minds and souls. I have that as a standard.
  • Trademarks
      Often plays eccentric, fast-talking characters
  • Nickname
    • Jimmy
  • Salary
    • Northfork
      (2003)
      $5,000

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