Woody Harrelson Birthday July 23

Woodrow Tracy “Woody” Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor.

Harrelson’s breakthrough role came in the television sitcom Cheers as bartender Woody Boyd. Notable film characters include basketball hustler Billy Hoyle in White Men Can’t Jump, bowler Roy Munson in Kingpin, serial killer Mickey Knox in Natural Born Killers, magazine publisher Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt, country singer Dusty in A Prairie Home Companion, bounty hunter Carson Wells in No Country for Old Men, zombie killer Tallahassee in Zombieland, blind piano player/meat salesman Ezra Turner in Seven Pounds, conspiracy nut Charlie Frost in 2012, a delusional man who believes that he is a superhero named Defendor in Defendor and Cpt. Tony Stone in The Messenger. For The People vs. Larry Flynt and The Messenger, Harrelson earned Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.

Trivia

Is a vegan.

Moonlights as the lead singer in the band Manly Moondog and the Three Kool Hats.

Graduated from Hanover College in 1983 with a degree in theater arts & English. Member Sigma Chi fraternity.

Was married to Neil Simon’s daughter, Nancy Simon. Has had relationships with: Carol Kane, Ally Sheedy and Moon Unit Zappa.

Was arrested in Columbus (Ohio) in June 1983, charged of disorderly conduct – he was dancing in the street, halting traffic; he later jumped out of a moving police van laughing maniacally and finally punched one of the two arresting officers to the ground.

Brother of Brett Harrelson and Jordan Harrelson.

Father Charles Harrelson was sentenced to two life sentences for the murder of Federal Judge John Howland Wood on the orders of drug dealer Jimmy Chagra, who reportedly paid him $250,000. Harrelson has claimed to be one of the “hobos” taken away from “the grassy knoll” right after the shooting of John F. Kennedy.

Admits to having been a sex addict.

Claims to have had 17 jobs in one year.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People. [1990]

Activist for the legalization of marijuana.

A jury in Beattyville, Kentucky dismissed a marijuana possession charge against him. He was arrested in 1996 for planting 4 marijuana hemp seeds in rural Kentucky and in his defence he said he was challenging a state law that makes no distinction between marijuana and hemp, even though hemp contains little of the drug found in marijuana and can be used to make a variety of industrial products. [25 August 2000]

Woody and approximately a dozen other hemp activists and environmentalists took a bicycle tour down the west coast of America, starting in Seattle, Washington and 1000 miles later ending at the University of Santa Barbara in California. The tour was escorted by the Mothership, a Chicago city transit bus fueled by hemp oil and powered by solar panels. [April 2001]

The ex-son-in-law of playwright Neil Simon, one of Woody’s first plays was Simon’s “Biloxi Blues” in 1984.

He is on the board of the directors for the Ex’pression Center For New Media, an art school in Emeryville, California.

Is the owner of an oxygen bar in West Hollywood, California. [2001]

Lives with Laura Louie and their children in Costa Rica [2004]

Was set to star in the Danny Boyle’s firefighter drama “Worcester Cold Storage” with Ed Harris, but the project never came to fruition.

He is the first and, as of 2005, only regular cast member from “Cheers” (1982) to receive a nomination for an Academy Award.

Wanted to play Jake Brigance in A Time to Kill (1996), but author John Grisham objected to his casting.

Good friends with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Lovingly refers to his three daughters as the “Goddess trilogy”.

Woody and his wife, Laura, became the parents of their third daughter, Makani Ravello, on Maui on June 3, 2006.

Although he is a vegan, he is a raw foodist (which means he only eats raw and dried foods).

He climbed the Golden Gate Bridge and put up a sign that read, “Hurwitz. Aren’t ancient redwoods more precious than gold?” in protest of MAXXAM/Pacific Lumber CEO Charles Hurwitz, who once stated, “He who has the gold, makes the rules”.

He and Nancy Simon were married in Tijuana, Mexico.

Daughters: Deni Montana Harrelson (born March 5, 1994), Zoe Giordano Harrelson (born September 22, 1996) and Makani Ravello Harrelson (born June 3, 2006).

Lives in Hawaii [2006].

His father, convicted murderer Charles Harrelson died on March 15th, 2007 in a federal super-maximum prison in Colorado.

Friend of Owen Wilson.

His friends Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber and Jim ‘Soni’ Sonefeld of the rock band Hootie and the Blowfish wrote the song “Woody” about him. The number can be found on the group’s eponymous 2003 album.

Close friend of Michael J. Fox.

In 1991 he went to Nairobi, Kenya and lived in a tent on the outskirts of town for a few weeks to experience Africa and get away from it all.

He was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in March 2003 in Austin, Texas.

Was considered for the role of Lester Burnham in American Beauty (1999).

Maintains his residence on Hana in Maui, and his neighbors include Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson. The three have been known to play poker together.

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