Bill Pullman Biography

Fast Facts

• Is one of seven children
• Was interested in pursuing a career in construction before becoming an actor
• Slipped into a three-day coma after a fall from a ladder in college, leaving him with a dulled sense of smell
• Performed in various theater groups in Los Angeles and New York
• Made feature debut in 1986's Ruthless People
• Formed production company, Big Town, in the mid-1990s
• Worked as a theater instructor at Montana State University; one of his students was aspiring director John Dahl, who later cast Pullman in his films The Last Seduction (1994) and You Kill Me (2007)
• Is on the Board of Trustees at New York's Alfred University, where he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 2011, when he was the keynote graduation speaker
• Fond of joking about the fact that he is sometimes mistaken for another actor, Bill Paxton
• Received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Television for his work on Torchwood: Miracle Day (2011)