James Woods

Early life and education

James Howard Woods was born on April 18, 1947 in Vernal, Utah, the elder of two brothers. His father, Gail Peyton Woods, was a United States Army intelligence officer who died in 1960 after routine surgery. His mother, Martha A. (née Smith), ran a pre-school after her husband's death. She later remarried, to 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 was an undergraduate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He stated on Inside the Actors Studio that he originally intended to become an eye surgeon. He pledged the Theta Delta Chi fraternity and was a member of the student theatre group Dramashop, acting in and directing a number of plays. He dropped out of MIT in 1969, one semester before graduating, to pursue an acting career.

Woods has said that he owes his acting career to Tim Affleck, father of actors Ben and Casey Affleck. The senior Affleck was a stage manager at the Theatre Company of Boston, which Woods attended as a student.

Career

1969–1976: Broadway debut and early work

Woods appeared in 36 plays before making his Broadway debut in the 1969 play The Penny Wars. The following year, he acted in the first American production of Frank McMahon's adaptation of Brendan Behan's Borstal Boy (1970) at the Lyceum Theatre. 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 also at the Lyceum Theatre. In 1971, he played Bob Rettie in the American premiere of Michael Weller's Moonchildren at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. The following year the production moved to Broadway at the Royale Theatre where Woods starred alongside Edward Herrmann and Christopher Guest. In 1972, 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 at the Plymouth Theatre.

Woods has garnered a reputation as a prominent Hollywood character actor, having appeared in over 130 films and television series. By the early 1970s, he was getting small movie roles including his feature film debut in Elia Kazan's The Visitors which debuted at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. That same year he acted in the neo-noir crime film Hickey & Boggs (1972) starring Robert Culp and Bill Cosby. The following year he had a supporting turn as Barbra Streisand's college boyfriend before she meets Robert Redford in the Sydney Pollack directed romance drama The Way We Were (1973). He continued to act in films such as the crime drama The Gambler (1974) starring James Caan, the neo-noir Night Moves (1975) with Gene Hackman and the comedy Alex & the Gypsy (1976) with Jack Lemmon. He acted in the Robert Aldrich directed comedy-drama The Choirboys (1977) alongside Charles Durning, Louis Gossett Jr., Randy Quaid and Burt Young.

1978–1989: Breakthrough and acclaim

Woods rose to prominence playing the husband of Meryl Streep in the critically acclaimed four episode miniseries Holocaust (1978) which aired on NBC. The series focuses on the story of a Jewish family's struggle to survive Nazi Germany's campaign of genocide against the Jewish people. The series also starred Michael Moriarty and Rosemary Harris. Holocaust won the Outstanding Limited Series as well as seven other Primetime Emmy Awards. The following year Woods took a leading role starring in The Onion Field (1979) playing murderer Gregory Powell. Critic Gene Siskel of The Chicago Tribune praised Woods' performance writing, "At the center of The Onion Field is a bunch of superior performances. James Woods (the persecuted artist in "The Holocaust") is a standout as Greg Powell, the ringleader of the crooks, a horrible creature with a scarred face and a quicksilver personality that ranges from murderous to fatherly to murderous in a matter of seconds." He also opined that "Woods deserves an Academy Award nomination for this role." Woods received nominations for Best Actor from the Golden Globe Awards, the National Society of Film Critics, and the New York Film Critics Circle Association, but notably not from the Academy Awards.

At the start of the 1980s, Woods played an eccentric and unpredictable janitor in the Peter Yates directed thriller Eyewitness (1981) co-starring Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Morgan Freeman and Christopher Plummer.

He acted in the prison drama Fast-Walking (1982) with Variety giving the film a mixed review but praising him as "always interesting to watch". That same year he acted in the psychological drama Split Image (1982).

Woods took the starring role in the David Cronenberg written and directed science-fiction body horror film Videodrome (1983). Critic Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the film and the leading performance writing, "By far Mr. Cronenberg's most inspired touch is the casting of Mr. Woods, who brings an almost backhanded heroism to the horror genre. In villainous or sinister roles...Mr. Woods has been startling, but that kind of casting is almost a redundancy. Here, his offhand wisecracking gives the performance a sharply authentic edge. And his jittery, insinuating manner even begins to look like a kind of innocence, in comparison with the calm, soothing attitudes of the video-crazed megalomaniacs he's up against."

1990–1999: Established actor

Woods was offered a leading role in Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut, the low-budget film Reservoir Dogs (1992), 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. That year, he did portray Roy Cohn in the HBO television film Citizen Cohn (1992) directed by Frank Pierson and featuring performances by Lee Grant, Frederic Forrest and Pat Hingle. Tony Scott of Variety praised the film and Woods writing, "It's Cohn's show and James Woods, in imaginative casting, is unnerving, ranging from the confused hospital-ridden patient to the smartly paced, homophobic gay prosecutor who knows every vicious trick to nail opponents. Woods's interp, chock-full of nuances, is masterful."

For his performance he received nominations for the Golden Globe Award and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie. He also took a supporting role as attorney Joseph Scott in the Richard Attenborough directed biographical epic film Chaplin (1992) starring Robert Downey Jr.

Woods played a supporting role of a hustler, Lester Diamond, in Martin Scorsese's Casino (1995), alongside Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci. When Woods had heard that Scorsese was interested in working with him, he called Scorsese's office and left the following message: "Any time, any place, any part, any fee." The film was well received by critics, earning a positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus reading, "Impressive ambition and bravura performances from an outstanding cast help Casino pay off in spite of a familiar narrative that may strike some viewers as a safe bet for director Martin Scorsese." Also in 1995, he starred as H. R. Haldeman in Oliver Stone's Nixon, opposite Anthony Hopkins as Richard Nixon. Woods received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination along with the rest of the cast for its ensemble work. That same year he acted in the HBO television film Indictment: The McMartin Trial acting opposite Mercedes Ruehl earning nominations for Golden Globe Award and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie.

In Rob Reiner's film Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Woods appeared alongside Alec Baldwin and Whoopi Goldberg. He portrayed Byron De La Beckwith, a white supremacist who assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963. The film was not a box-office success and received mixed reviews, earning a critics' review of 43% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, some critics praised Woods' performance. Janet Maslin, in her New York Times review, states, "Woods's performance as the hateful old reprobate Beckwith is the film's chief sign of life". The Los Angeles Times published an article titled "James Woods is So Good at Being Bad". In the articles it describes Woods having aggressively lobbied director Rob Reiner for the role, which Reiner originally intended for an actor in his 70s, like Paul Newman.

2000–present

During the 2000s, Woods lent his voice to various films, video games, and television shows including another Disney film, Recess: School's Out (2001) as Dr. Phillium Benedict, the twisted former headmaster who attempts to abolish summer vacation. Woods would also voice Falcon in Stuart Little 2 (2002). He appeared in the Denzel Washington thriller John Q. (2002) and had a cameo in Be Cool (2005), featuring an all-star cast. In 2007, Woods voiced the role of Reggie Belafonte, a short-tempered sea otter, in the Sony Pictures Animation film, Surf's Up. The character is a Don King-like promoter for the main character's rival. The film went on to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature losing to Pixar's Ratatouille. From 2005 to 2016, Woods has played a recurring role as himself in Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy. He has continued to voice Hades in the Kingdom Hearts video games. Since 2016, he has also voiced the role of Lex Luthor in the animated series Justice League Action. From 2006 to 2008, Woods starred in the CBS legal drama series Shark. 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.

In 2011, Woods starred in the HBO television drama film Too Big to Fail based on the 2009 book of the same name by Andrew Ross Sorkin. He acted alongside Paul Giamatti, William Hurt, Cynthia Nixon, Tony Shalhoub and Bill Pullman. Woods played Richard S. Fuld, Jr., chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly praised Woods' writing that he "embodyed the role with macho aggression with snake-oil smoothness".

For his performance Woods earned nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. In 2012, Woods appeared in the limited series Coma alongside Geena Davis, Richard Dreyfuss, and Ellen Burstyn. The series was produced by Ridley Scott, and Tony Scott and premiered on A&E. In 2013, Woods joined Showtime's critically acclaimed series Ray Donovan in a recurring role as Patrick "Sully" Sullivan also starring Liev Schreiber, and Jon Voight.

He also appeared as a fictional version of himself in the episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homer and Apu" and in eight episodes of Family Guy, which is set in Woods' home state of Rhode Island. He is also the namesake for James Woods Regional High School in Family Guy. The high school's name was later changed to Adam West High School to reflect the death of Adam West, who was a character in the show. Woods has lent his voice to video games such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. In 2012, Woods attended an anniversary screening of a restored cut of Once Upon a Time in America (1984) at the 65th Cannes Film Festival. The screening was made possible by Martin Scorsese and his Film Foundation which digitally restored the film as well as included 40 additional minutes of footage. Woods, Robert De Niro, Jennifer Connelly, and Elizabeth McGovern attended the premiere and introduced the film.

Personal life

Marriages and relationships

In 1980, Woods married costume designer Kathryn Morrison-Pahoa. They divorced in 1983. In 1989, he married 26-year-old equestrian and boutique owner Sarah Owen, but they divorced four months later. In 1992, Woods dated Heather Graham, his co-star in the film Diggstown.

Woods was raised as Roman Catholic and considers himself a practicing follower of the religion.

Interests

During a press interview for Kingdom Hearts II (2005), Woods said that he was an avid video game player. He is a dealer of antiques in Rhode Island. Woods is an avid poker player, playing in cash games and many tournaments. He played in the World Poker Tour's Hollywood Home Game series in 2004 for the American Stroke Association charity. As of 2018, he has over 80 tournament successes to his credit, including seventh place at the 2015 World Series of Poker in the $3000 No Limit Shootout event and fifth place in the $1,500 Dealers Choice event at the 2018 World Series of Poker, as well as a $12,000 poker win in 2022 at Bally's Las Vegas.

Legal issues

In 1988, Woods sued actress Sean Young for $2 million, accusing her of stalking him after they appeared together in the film The Boost. Young later countered that Woods had overreacted when she had spurned his on-set advances. The suit was settled out of court in August 1989, including a payment of $227,000 to Young to cover her legal costs.

In 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 lawsuit was settled in 2009.

In July 2015, Woods sued an anonymous Twitter user known as Abe List, and ten other Twitter users, for $10 million over an allegedly libelous tweet accusing him of being a "cocaine addict". Woods unsuccessfully sought to obtain the name of the Twitter user; the Los Angeles County Superior Court denied his motion for discovery in October 2015, holding that he could not "use legal process to pierce the anonymity of internet speakers unless [he] can make a prima facie case." However, in an unexpected later ruling, the user's Anti-SLAPP motion was denied and Woods was permitted to pursue his lawsuit against List, with the ten other defendants being dropped from the lawsuit. In October 2016, the defendant's appeal was dismissed; attorney Lisa Bloom, who represented the anonymous Twitter user, revealed that the user had died. The case was settled out of court soon afterwards, with Woods receiving a letter from Bloom saying that her client "regretted making the tweet and further regrets any harm caused to Mr. Woods' reputation by the tweet."

In 2017, shortly before the Abe List litigation was resolved, Portia Boulger sued Woods for misidentifying her as a Nazi in an allegedly libelous tweet. The tweet included a photo of a different woman giving a Nazi salute while wearing a Donald Trump t-shirt at a campaign event. Boulger sought $3 million in damages. The court ruled in favor of Woods under the innocent construction rule. Boulger appealed, but the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the ruling.

In September 2017, Amber Tamblyn wrote an open letter to Woods accusing him of inviting her and her friend to Las Vegas when she was 16. Woods denied the story. The same month, actress Katie Aselton said that she also had "a James Woods story" from when she was 19 years old, asking "how many of us are there?" In November 2017, actress Elizabeth Perkins, at a #MeToo rally, accused Woods of sexual misconduct.

Political views and Twitter use

Woods has stated that he was a member of the Democratic Party until the impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1999, commenting that "every single Democrat without exception stood behind a convicted perjurer. That was the end." Woods was a registered Independent during the presidencies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama; he since aligned himself with the Republican Party until 2026, when he stated that he is an Independent now, calling himself "done with the Republican Party" because most of them "rejected her [Nancy Mace, a House Republican] motion to subpoena Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar's immigration records" and didn't pass the SAVE ACT, saying he is still "a devout follower of President Trump." When Carly Fiorina pulled out of the 2016 presidential race, he shifted his endorsement to Ted Cruz in November 2015. Woods has defended U.S. President Donald Trump in the media, and has been described as a "staunch Trump supporter".

Woods' 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.

On July 4, 2018, The Gersh Agency notified Woods by email that they would no longer represent him. Woods accused the agency of liberal political bias due to his outspoken conservative views. Woods has said there were many conservative actors who don't share their thoughts because "the blacklist against conservatives in Hollywood is very real." Woods announced that he was retiring due to being blacklisted.

Woods frequently expressed his conservative political views on Twitter and was locked out of his account multiple times for violations of the platform's terms of service. In 2017, a Twitter debate between Woods and Amber Tamblyn escalated after Tamblyn accused Woods of inviting her to Las Vegas when she was underage, a claim Woods dismissed as a lie.

In July 2017, Woods responded to a Twitter post of an Orange County family attending an LGBT pride event with their 10-year-old son by stating, "Wait until this poor kid grows up, realizes what you've done, and stuffs both of you dismembered into a freezer in the garage." Neil Patrick Harris, a friend of the family, condemned Woods’ comments as "utterly ignorant and classless."

9/11 experience

On August 1, 2001, Woods alleged noticing four men near him acting suspiciously on a flight from Boston to Los Angeles. Woods reported his suspicions to the co-pilot in flight, and he claimed that those concerns were passed on to the Federal Aviation Administration. On the evening of September 11, Woods called the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and repeated his concerns; they interviewed him at his home the next morning. Woods believed that he had encountered four of the 19 terrorists/hijackers responsible for the September 11 attacks, who were on the flight to study it in preparation for the attacks. Woods was interviewed by FBI agents regarding this incident. He has stated that he looked at pictures of the hijackers and identified two terrorists as being among the men that he had seen on his flight.

Acting credits

Woods' career spans five decades and includes collaborations with some of the most acclaimed filmmakers of his time, such as John Carpenter, Elia Kazan, Martin Scorsese, David Cronenberg, Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, Sydney Pollack, Arthur Penn, Oliver Stone, Rob Reiner, Robert Zemeckis, Richard Attenborough, and Sofia Coppola.

Selected credits:

Awards and nominations

For his work in film, Woods has received two Academy Award nominations for his performances in Oliver Stone's Salvador (1987), and Rob Reiner's Ghosts of Mississippi (1996). Woods has also received many award nominations for his performances in television such as Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for his performance in the made-for-television film Promise (1986), and won his second Primetime Emmy Award for his performance in My Name is Bill W. (1989). He also received three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations and three Independent Spirit Award nominations winning for Salvador.

On October 15, 1998, Woods was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a star at 7021 Hollywood Blvd.