Born in Vernal, Utah, on April 18, 1947, James Woods attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for a time before dropping out to pursue acting. Woods made his film debut in All the Way Home (1970), followed by a string of small movie parts through the 1970s. But he first gained notice playing a cop killer in The Onion Field (1979).Woods made his mark as a leading man in Videodrome (1983), Once Upon a Time in America (1984) and Oliver Stone's Salvador (1986), which earned Woods a Best Actor Oscar nomination. He continued to make memorable supporting appearances in films such as Casino, Any Given Sunday, Contact and Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), for which he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.
Woods regularly takes roles in smaller works from up-and-coming directors, such as Another Day in Paradise (1998), The Virgin Suicides (1999) and Northfork (2003).
AddThe Virgin SuicidesIn sharp response to the lax moral milieu of the mid-1970s, Ronald and Sara Lisbon (James Woods and Kathleen Turner) keep their five alluring, adolescent daughters on a short leash by embracing religion and pushing away the opposite sex. But when the youngest (Hanna Hall) unaccountably commits... Read More
AddNorthforkIt's 1955, and the town of Northfork, Mont., is about to disappear off the map, the victim of a newly constructed dam. Six men are charged with clearing Northfork of its last hangers-on: a couple, a man who owns an ark and a nearly comatose orphan. Acclaimed filmmakers Michael and Mark Polish... Read More
AddVideodromeSleazy TV executive James Woods needs cheap, exciting programming for his fly-by-night channel. Fortuitously, he stumbles across a fuzzy satellite feed showing torture, punishment ... and possibly murder. A conspiracy is afoot as two competing groups fight for the 20th century's soul, using the... Read More
AddVampiresJack Crow (James Woods) leads a team of vampire hunters in director John Carpenter's Western-themed movie about bloodthirsty ghouls. Jack and his sidekick, Montoya (Daniel Baldwin), destroy a nest of vampires, but as they head off to celebrate, they're set upon by master vampire Jan Valek (Thomas... Read More
AddThis Girl's LifeA provocative pastiche, this indie drama follows Internet porn star Moon (Juliette Marquis) as she cares for her ailing father (James Woods), starts a tentative romance with a new boyfriend and supplements her income by testing the monogamy of other women's men. Rosario Dawson is a standout as... Read More
