Woody Harrelson - Updated Sep 2024

Updated On June 3, 2024
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Woody Harrelson

Woody Harrelson is a popular American actor and playwright. Woody Harrelson is best known for his role as a bartender, Woody Boyd on the NBC series “Cheers (1985–1993)”.

Early Life and Childhood

Woody Harrelson was born Woodrow Tracy Harrelson on July 23, 1961, in Midland, Texas, U.S. He is presently 62 years old (as of 2024). He was born to his convicted hitman father Charles Voyde Harrelson and his secretary mother Diane Lou Oswald. Woody was raised in a Presbyterian household along with his two brothers Jordan and Brett. Both of his brothers are actors.

For the murder of federal judge John H. Wood Jr. in 1979, their father was given a life sentence. According to Harrelson, his father didn’t spend much time with him as a child. Charles passed away on March 15, 2007, at the Administrative Maximum Facility of the United States Penitentiary. After the death of his father, the whole family was dependent on his mother. Likewise, he holds American nationality but his ethnicity is not disclosed.

Woody Harrelson – Education

He was a student at Briarwood School. He relocated to Lebanon, Ohio, the hometown of his mother, where he attended school until 1979, graduating from Lebanon High School. Woody worked at Kings Island during the 1979 summer season. Harrelson studied English and theater at Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana. He met future Vice President Mike Pence while a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity at that university. His graduation was in 1983.

Career

Television

Harrelson is well-known for his performance in the NBC comedy Cheers. In place of Coach (played by Nicholas Colasanto, who passed away in February 1985), he took the role of bartender Woody Boyd. During the final eight seasons (1985–1993) of the show, he appeared as a cast member beginning in season four of 1985. Five Emmy Awards were given to Harrelson for this role; he only received one award, in 1989. Harrelson attended college there, and his character, Woody Boyd, was from Hanover, Indiana.

On May 27, 2012, Harrelson also participated in Soccer Aid 2012. England prevailed 3-1 in the final score. Harrelson will play intelligence officer E. Howard Hunt in the HBO political limited series White House Plumbers, which is set to premiere in 2023. The Watergate scandal and investigation will be the main topics of the series. Executive producing the series with Harrelson

Film

Harrelson started his movie career while continuing to work on Cheers. His debut motion picture was the 1986 football comedy Wildcats starring Goldie Hawn. Alongside Hank Azaria, he appeared in the 1990 romantic comedy Cool Blue after his performance in Wildcats. In the financially successful motion pictures White Men Can’t Jump (1992) and Money Train (1995), he collaborated once more with Wesley Snipes, who made his film debut in Wildcats. In 1993, Harrelson starred in the drama Indecent Proposal with Robert Redford and Demi Moore. The film was a box office hit, grossing more than $265,000,000 globally.

Woody Harrelson

Caption: Woody Harrelson on the poster of his movie “Champions”
Source: Instagram

In the 2018 film Solo: A Star Wars Story by Lucasfilm, Harrelson portrayed Tobias Beckett, a criminal who served as Han Solo’s mentor. In the 2018 movie Venom, Harrelson played Cletus Kasady in a brief cameo. Woody co-starred in the 2019 film The Highwaymen with Kevin Costner. He played Admiral Chester Nimitz in Roland Emmerich’s blockbuster Midway, which came out in theaters in November 2019. Harrelson returned to Tallahassee in Zombieland 2: Double Tap the same year.

Moreover, he will play Felix Kersten in the upcoming motion picture The Man with the Miraculous Hands, which is based on Joseph Kessel’s 1960 novel of the same name. He played the coach of a Special Olympics basketball team in the 2023 movie “Champions,” which featured many actors with disabilities.

Theater

Furthest from the Sun, a play he wrote, was directed by Harrelson in 1999 at Minneapolis’ Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Next, he appeared in the 2000 Broadway revival of The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash produced by Roundabout, in The Late Henry Moss by Sam Shepard in 2001, and in On an Average Day by John Kolvenbach opposite Kyle MacLachlan in the London West End in the fall of 2002. In the summer of 2003, Harrelson oversaw the Toronto premiere of This is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan at the Berkley Street Theater.

In the Lyric Theater’s production of Tennessee Williams’ Night of the Iguana in the winter of 2005–2006, Harrelson made a triumphant return to London’s West End. The prestigious Hart House Theatre in Toronto, Ontario, staged Harrelson’s production of Bullet for Adolf, a play he co-wrote with Frankie Hyman, from April 21 to May 7, 2011. With previews starting on July 19, 2012, Bullet for Adolf debuted Off-Broadway (New World Stages) and ended on September 30, 2012, canceling its announced extension through October 21. New York critics panned the performance.

Personal Life

Harrelson got married to Nancy Simon, a playwright’s daughter, in Tijuana in 1985. The couple didn’t intend for their relationship to last, and they had intended to get divorced the next day. However, when they went back to the storefront marriage/divorce parlor, it was already closed, so they stayed together for an additional ten months. He married Laura Louie, a founding member of the organic food delivery company Yoganics, in 2008. She was his assistant when they first met in 1987. Their three daughters, who were born in 1993, 1996, and 2006, respectively, live with them in Maui, Hawaii.

Woody Harrelson

Caption: Woody Harrelson with his wife
Source: People

Furthermore, Hanover College honored Harrelson with an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL) in 2014. Chess is a pastime for Harrelson. He watched the opening match of the World Chess Championship between American challenger Fabiano Caruana and Norwegian champion Magnus Carlsen in London in November 2018. He initiated the game’s opening ceremonial play. Additionally, he had made the official opening move for the previous World Chess Championship, which took place in New York in 2016.

Matthew McConaughey, Harrelson’s longtime friend, said that the two men might be related in 2023. Around the time of McConaughey’s conception, McConaughey’s mother allegedly had a sexual relationship with Charles Harrelson, the actor’s father.

Filmography and Awards

Harrelson is well-known for his work in front of and behind the camera in several projects, and he has a career resume that includes performances in films and other mediums across many different genres. With nominations for seven Primetime Emmy Awards, three Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards, his acting accomplishments have brought him recognition on a global scale.

For his portrayal of Larry Flynt in the 1996 biographical drama The People vs. Larry Flynt, he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. He also received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his roles as a Gulf War veteran and a police chief in the films The Messenger (2009) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).

In the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series, his breakthrough performance as bartender Woody Boyd earned him five nominations and one win on television. With roles in the comedic series Frasier and the 2012 television movie Game Change, Harrelson later made a comeback to the small screen.

Woody Harrelson – Net Worth 2024

This professional actor and playwright has earned a hefty amount of money throughout his career. He has a net worth of $90 million as of 2023. For the television shows in which he appears, Woody Harrelson receives a salary of more than $300,000 per episode.

Social Media

Talking about his social media presence, he is active on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. His official Facebook page ‘Woody Harrelson’ has more than 3 million followers. Likewise, his Instagram account ‘@woodyharrelson’ has gained more than 3.2 million followers and has shared 297 posts. Similarly, he joined Twitter in December 2016 and has over 113K followers on his account ‘@WoodyHarrelson’.

Woody Harrelson – Body Measurements

Reflecting on his body stats, he has a height of 5 feet 10 inches and a weight of 83kg. His body measurements are 42-15-36 inches (chest-waist-hip). Likewise, his shoe size is 10 (US). Similarly, he has a pair of blue eyes with brown colored hair.

Woody Harrelson

Caption: Woody Harrelson posing for a photo
Source: Healthy Celeb