James Woods

James Woods Bio

James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor widely recognized for his fast-talking, intense performances on screen and stage. Over a career that has spanned more than five decades, he has built a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most distinctive character actors, taking on a wide range of dramatic and morally complex roles. He has received numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. In addition to his acting work, Woods has also stepped behind the camera, serving as an executive producer on major film projects.

Early Life and Background

James Howard Woods was born on April 18, 1947, in Vernal, Utah. He was the elder of two brothers. His father, Gail Peyton Woods, was a United States Army intelligence officer who died in 1960 after routine surgery, when James was a teenager. His mother, Martha A. (née Smith), ran a pre-school after her husband’s death and later remarried, to Thomas E. Dixon. Following his father’s passing, Woods was raised in Warwick, Rhode Island, where he attended Pilgrim High School, graduating in 1965. He is of part Irish descent and was raised Catholic, briefly serving as an altar boy during his childhood.

Woods went on to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as an undergraduate student. He has stated that he originally intended to become an eye surgeon before pivoting toward the arts. At MIT, he pledged the Theta Delta Chi fraternity and became an active member of the student theatre group Dramashop, where he both acted in and directed a number of plays. He dropped out of MIT in 1969, one semester before graduating, in order to pursue an acting career. Woods has credited Tim Affleck, father of actors Ben and Casey Affleck, with helping launch his path into professional theatre. The senior Affleck was a stage manager at the Theatre Company of Boston, which Woods attended as a student.

Path to Celebrity

Woods made his Broadway debut in 1969 with The Penny Wars, following years of work in minor off-Broadway and regional stage productions. He quickly built his stage résumé, appearing in Borstal Boy (1970) at the Lyceum Theatre, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1971), and Michael Weller’s Moonchildren (1972) at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., a production that later moved to Broadway at the Royale Theatre. In 1972, he won a Theatre World Award for his performance in Moonchildren. By the early 1970s, he was also landing small movie roles, including his feature film debut in Elia Kazan’s The Visitors (1972), which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival.

He continued to accumulate film credits throughout the 1970s, appearing in The Way We Were (1973), The Gambler (1974), Night Moves (1975), and The Choirboys (1977). He also starred with Meryl Streep in the NBC miniseries Holocaust (1978), which brought him wider critical attention. His portrayal of murderer Gregory Powell in The Onion Field (1979) marked his first major leading role in a feature film and earned him Best Actor nominations from the Golden Globe Awards, the National Society of Film Critics, and the New York Film Critics Circle Association, though an Academy Award nomination did not follow.

James Woods Career

Early Career (1969-1976)

During the early 1970s, Woods established himself as a busy and dedicated stage actor, appearing in 36 plays before his Broadway debut. He followed The Penny Wars with leading roles in Borstal Boy, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, and Moonchildren, working alongside actors such as Edward Herrmann and Christopher Guest. He also earned early recognition with a Theatre World Award in 1972.

On screen, he transitioned from theatre into supporting film parts, beginning with The Visitors in 1972 and continuing through The Way We Were, The Gambler, Night Moves, and Alex & the Gypsy. These roles, though often small, allowed him to work with major directors and stars, including Elia Kazan, Sydney Pollack, and Jack Lemmon, and helped him build a foundation for his later leading roles.

Breakthrough (1978-1989)

Woods’s breakthrough came with his performance in The Onion Field (1979), which established him as a leading man. He followed this with memorable roles in Eyewitness (1981), Fast-Walking (1982), and Split Image (1982), and delivered a defining performance in David Cronenberg’s body-horror science fiction film Videodrome (1983). He then took on the role of Maximillian “Max” Bercovicz in Sergio Leone’s epic crime drama Once Upon a Time in America (1984), a role he has called one of his favorites.

In 1986, Woods portrayed real-life journalist Richard Boyle in Oliver Stone’s Salvador, a performance that earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor. He won his first Primetime Emmy Award in 1987 for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for the CBS film Promise. He won his second Primetime Emmy in 1989 for the ABC drama My Name Is Bill W., in which he portrayed the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill W. During this period, he also starred in films such as The Boost (1988), True Believer (1989), and Immediate Family (1989).

Notable Works and Milestones

Woods’s signature screen work includes Salvador (1986), The Onion Field (1979), Videodrome (1983), and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). His performances have earned him two Academy Award nominations, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor. He has appeared in over 130 films and television series across his career, collaborating with directors such as Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, David Cronenberg, Oliver Stone, and Sofia Coppola.

James Woods Award Nominations

James Woods has received numerous nominations throughout his career across major industry awards. He earned two Academy Award nominations: for Best Actor for Salvador (1986) and for Best Supporting Actor for Ghosts of Mississippi (1996). He has also received three Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, including one for his performance as Richard S. Fuld, Jr. in the HBO film Too Big to Fail (2011), and another as part of the ensemble cast of Nixon (1995). In television, he has been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award and the Golden Globe Award multiple times, including for his roles in Citizen Cohn (1992) and Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995), as well as for Too Big to Fail (2011). He has additionally received three Independent Spirit Award nominations, winning once for Salvador.

James Woods Awards Won

James Woods has won several major awards over the course of his career. He won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor for his performance in Salvador (1986), and two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, for Promise (1986) and My Name Is Bill W. (1989). He also won a Golden Globe Award for his performance in Promise, and a Daytime Emmy Award in 2000 for voicing Hades in the second season of the Hercules television series. Earlier in his career, he was named a Theatre World Award winner in 1972 for his performance in Moonchildren.

James Woods Family

James Howard Woods was born to Gail Peyton Woods, a United States Army intelligence officer, and Martha A. Woods (née Smith), who ran a pre-school after her husband’s death. He had a younger brother, Michael Jeffrey Woods, who died from cardiac arrest in 2006 at the age of 49. Woods’s mother later remarried, to Thomas E. Dixon, and the family eventually settled in Warwick, Rhode Island, where Woods attended Pilgrim High School. He is of part Irish descent and was raised in a Roman Catholic household.

Personal Life

In 1980, Woods married costume designer Kathryn Morrison-Pahoa; the couple divorced in 1983. In 1989, he married equestrian and boutique owner Sarah Owen, but they divorced four months later. In 1992, he dated actress Heather Graham, his co-star in the film Diggstown. Woods was raised as a Roman Catholic and has described himself as a practicing follower of the religion. He is an avid video game player, a dealer of antiques in Rhode Island, and a competitive poker player with more than 80 tournament successes to his credit, including placements at the World Series of Poker.