Whether playing a hero or a villain, Woods is a master at making sleaziness seem sexy, and vice versa. Armed with a skinny frame, craggy features and explosive energy, this charismatic player dropped out of MIT to pursue acting. Although he spent the '70s languishing in small roles, he broke through as a psychotic criminal in the harrowing 1979 drama
The Onion Field. It was a testament to his talent that he got typecast as a big-screen baddy: a manipulative drug dealer in
Against All Odds, an S-and-M-obsessed cable TV operator in
Videodrome and a Jewish gangster in
Once Upon a Time in America. He earned his first Oscar nod for
Salvador, as a reckless American journalist caught up in the title country's civil unrest. Yet despite his critical accolades, Hollywood didn't view Woods as leading-man material in films, perhaps due to his unconventional looks and manic energy. So while he spent the next two decades turning in excellent supporting performances on the big screen — a hustler in
Diggstown, Sharon Stone's lowlife ex in
Casino, a key player in the Watergate scandal in
Nixon, and an unrepentant racist killer in
Ghosts of Mississippi, which earned him a second Academy Award nomination — he essayed larger and more diverse roles on the small screen. He won two Emmys in a pair of TV-movies opposite James Garner — as a schizophrenic in
Promise and the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous in
My Name Is Bill W. — and he also played New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in an eponymous, post-9/11 telepic. Off screen, Woods' personal life seemed as intense as his roles. A twice-married ladies' man with an eye for pretty young things, he engaged in a very public war with Sean Young, his ex-girlfriend and costar in
The Boost, whom he accused of harassment, and at age 59 dated 20-year-old starlet Ashley Madison, the daughter of one of his golfing buddies. He also claimed to have encountered two of the 9/11 hijackers on a flight in August of 2001. In 2006, Woods took on his first series-regular role as a crusading defense lawyer in
Shark.
James Woods Fast Facts:
- Said he scored a near-perfect 1579 on his SATs.
- Fired his longtime agent for not informing him that director Quentin Tarantino wanted Woods for the lead in 1992's Reservoir Dogs.
- Was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 1998.
- Made the final table of the World Poker Tour championship in 2004.
- The local school on Family Guy is named James Woods Memorial High School; Woods voiced himself in a 2005 episode of the animated sitcom.
- James Woods Relationships:
- Gail Woods - Father
- Heather Graham - Ex-significant Other
- Julie Wright - Ex-significant Other
- Kathryn Morrison - Ex-wife
- Martha Dixon - Mother
- Michael Woods - Brother
- Missy Crider - Ex-fiancée
- Sarah Owen - Ex-wife
- Sean Young - Ex-significant Other
- James Woods Awards:
- 1997 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - Nominee
- 2001 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - Nominee
- 2003 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie - Nominee
- 1987 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Special - Winner
- 1989 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Special - Winner
- 1993 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Special - Nominee
- 1995 Emmy: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Special - Nominee
- 1986 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Nominee
- 1996 Oscar: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Nominee
- 1989 Emmy: Outstanding Performance in Informational Programming - Nominee
- 1980 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama - Nominee
- 1997 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Nominee
- 1987 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - Winner
- 1988 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - Nominee
- 1990 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - Nominee
- 1993 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - Nominee
- 1996 Golden Globe: Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television - Nominee
- 2006 Emmy: Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series - Nominee
- College:
- Attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
