    billy bob thornton (born august 4, 1955) is an american actor, filmmaker, and singer-songwriter. thornton made his first break with co-writing and starring in the 1992 film one false move and came to international attention after writing, directing, and starring in the independent film sling blade (1996), for which he won an academy award for best adapted screenplay and was nominated for an academy award for best actor. he appeared in several major film roles following sling blade, including u turn (1997), primary colors (1998), armageddon (1998), a simple plan (1998), which earned him his third oscar nomination, monster's ball (2001), bandits (2001), the man who wasn't there (2001), bad santa (2003), intolerable cruelty (2003), love actually (2003), '
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