Harrelson, Woody (1961– )

US actor. He became popular during the mid-1980s for his Emmy Award-winning role as the dim-witted but amiable bartender Woody in the hit television comedy Cheers (1985–93), and went on to prove his versatility in a range of roles from the 1990s, for example the pornographic magazine publisher Larry Flynt in the biopic The People vs Larry Flynt (1996), for which he won several awards.

His first starring film role was as a basketball-playing hustler opposite Wesley Snipes in the comedy White Men Can't Jump (1992). During the 1990s he performed in a variety of films, including Oliver Stone's controversial grisly drama Natural Born Killers (1994), The Thin Red Line (1998), and EDtv (1999). Later films include Robert Altman's ensemble comedy A Prairie Home Companion and Richard Linklater's thriller adaptation A Scanner Darkly (both 2006).

He was born in Midland, Texas, and grew up in Lebanon, Ohio. After studying theatre and English literature at Hanover College in Indiana, Harrelson moved to New York, where he became an understudy in Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues. He made his feature film debut with a minor role in Wildcats (1986). For most of his childhood his father, a professional contract killer, was in prison for murder, and this along with his outspoken advocacy for the legalization of marijuana, as well as his own multiple arrests, attracted wide media attention.