Billy Bob Thornton

**Billy Bob Thornton** (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, screenwriter, director, singer and musician. Thornton first became known for his acting on the CBS sitcom _Hearts Afire_ and in a number of early 1990s movies. These movies included _On Deadly Ground_ and _Tombstone_. In the mid-1990s, after writing, directing, and starring in the independent movie _Sling Blade_, he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He had many large movie roles after _Sling Blade_ 's success. These included 1998's _Armageddon_ and _A Simple Plan._ During the late 1990s, Thornton began a career as a singer-songwriter. He has released three albums. Thorton was the singer in a blues rock band.

## Early life

Thornton was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He is the son of Virginia Roberta (née Faulkner), a psychic, and William Raymond "Billy Ray" Thornton, a high school history teacher and basketball coach. His father died when Thornton was 18. He has two younger brothers, Jimmy Don and John David. During his childhood, Thornton lived in both Alpine, Arkansas, and Malvern, Arkansas. He was raised a Methodist. Thorton grew up in a large family in a shack. It did not have electricity nor plumbing. Thornton graduated from high school in 1973. He was good high school baseball player. He tried out for the Kansas City Royals, but was let go after an injury.

In the mid 1980s, Thornton moved to Los Angeles to become an actor. At first, Thornton had a hard time becoming an actor. He worked in telemarketing, offshore wind farming, and fast food management while trying to get acting jobs. He also played drums and sang with South African rock band Jack Hammer. While Thornton worked as a waiter for an event, he served movie director and screenwriter Billy Wilder. Wilder is known for movies that include _Double Indemnity_ and _Sunset Boulevard_. Thornton talked with Wilder, who told Thornton to think about a career as a screenwriter.

### Film

Billy Bob's first role was in 1980s _South of Reno_. He played a small role as a man in a restaurant. Billy Bob was also in a 1987 episode of Andy Griffith's series _Matlock_. Another one of Thornton's early roles was on the CBS sitcom _Hearts Afire_ with John Ritter and Markie Post. His role as the villain in the 1992 movie _One False Move_ got him noticed by the critics. He also had small roles in the early 1990s movies _Indecent Proposal_, _On Deadly Ground_, _Bound by Honor_, _Grey Knight_, and _Tombstone_. Thornton did what Wilder told him to do. He wrote, directed, and starred in the independent movie _Sling Blade_. The movie was released in 1996. The movie was an expansion of a short named _Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade_. It told the story of Karl Childers, a mentally handicapped man imprisoned for murder. _Sling Blade_ was well liked internationally. Thornton's screenplay earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Edgar Award. His acting in the movie earned him an Oscar and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor.

In 1998, he played the James-Carville-like Richard Jemmons in _Primary Colors_. Thornton wrote the movie version of the book _All the Pretty Horses_ as a 2000 movie with the same name. The movie starred Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz. After he was forced to cut more than an hour of the movie, he decided to never direct another movie. Also in 2000, an early script he had written was made into _The Gift_. It starred Cate Blanchett, Hilary Swank, Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes, Greg Kinnear, and Giovanni Ribisi. In 2000, he also appeared in Travis Tritt's music video for the song "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde".

The press usually describe Thorton as a "tattooed, hirsute man's man". He had many large movie roles after _Sling Blade_ 's success. These include 1998's _Armageddon_ with Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis, _A Simple Plan_, _Monster's Ball_, _Bandits_ and _The Man Who Wasn't There_. He played a mall Santa Claus in 2003's _Bad Santa_. It was a black comedy that did very good at the box office. The movie made Thornton notable as a leading comic actor. Thornton has said that, after _Bad Santa_'s success, audiences "like to watch [him] play that kind of guy," and "they [casting directors] call [him] up when they need an asshole. It's kinda that simple... you know how narrow the imagination in this business can be." In 2004 he played Davy Crockett in _The Alamo_.

He was in the comic movie _School for Scoundrels_ in 2006. More recent movies include _The Astronaut Farmer_ and the comedy, _Mr. Woodcock_. In September 2008, Thornton starred in the action movie _Eagle Eye_ with Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan. Thornton has also said he may want to direct another movie. He may direct a period piece about cave explorer Floyd Collins. The movie would be based on the book _Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins_ by Robert K. Murray and Roger Brucker. Thornton got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 7, 2004.

### Relationships and children

Thornton has been married six times. Each marriage ended in divorce. With the ongoing exception of his most recent and still current marriage. He has four children by three women. From 1978 to 1980, he was married to Melissa Lee Gatlin. They have a daughter, Amanda. Thornton married actress Toni Lawrence in 1986. They divorced in 1988. From 1990 to 1992, he was married to actress Cynda Williams. In 1993, Thornton married _Playboy_ model Pietra Dawn Cherniak. They have two sons, Harry James and William. The marriage ended in 1997. Cherniak said Thornton abused her.

Thornton was engaged to be married to actress Laura Dern, whom he dated from 1997 to 1999. Instead of marrying Dern, in 2000, he married actress Angelina Jolie. The marriage became known for the couple's strange shows of affection. These were said to include wearing vials of each other's blood around their necks. Thorton later said that the "vials" were actually two small lockets. Each had only a single drop of blood in it. Thornton and Jolie said they were adopting a child from Cambodia in March 2002. Later it was learned that Jolie had adopted the child as a single parent. They separated in June 2002 and divorced the following year.

Since 2003, Thornton has been in a relationship with Connie Angland. They officially wed in 2014. They have a daughter, Bella. The family lives in Los Angeles, California. Thornton had said that he likely wouldn't marry again. He had said that he thought that marriage "doesn't work" for him. Thus far proven wrong as of 2025 they've celebrated 11 years of marriage together. Billy Bob Thornton has said they've "...been together longer than if you totalled up all his previous marriages combined, its more time...", via Us magazine.

Thornton is the cousin of professional wrestling legends Terry Funk and Dory Funk, Jr.

## Film

|Year|Title|Role|class="unsortable"|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1986|_Hunter's Blood_|Billy Bob|||
|1988|_South of Reno_|Counterman|||
|rowspan="2"|1989|_Going Overboard_|Dave||
|_Chopper Chicks in Zombietown_|Donny||||
|rowspan="3"|1991|_The Dark Backward_|Patron At Sloppy's|Uncredited|
|_For the Boys_|Marine Sergeant In Korea||||
|_Widespread Panic: Live from the Georgia Theatre_|—|Short film Director only|||
|1992|_One False Move_|Ray Malcolm|Also writer||
|rowspan="5"|1993|_Tombstone_|Johnny Tyler||
|_Blood In Blood Out_|'Lightning'||||
|_Indecent Proposal_|Day Tripper||||
|_Ghost Brigade_|Langston||||
|_Trouble Bound_|'Coldface'||||
|rowspan="3"|1994|_On Deadly Ground_|Homer Carlton||
|_Floundering_|Gun Clerk||||
|_Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade_|Karl Childers|Short film Also writer|||
|rowspan="2"|1995|_Dead Man_|George 'Big George' Drakoulious||
|__|Roy||||
|rowspan="3"|1996|_Sling Blade_|Karl Childers|Also writer/director|
|__|Jack||||
|_A Family Thing_|—|Writer only|||
|rowspan="4"|1997|__|Troublemaker||
|_U Turn_|Darrell||||
|_Princess Mononoke_|Jigo|Voice only (English language dub)|||
|_Burn Hollywood Burn_|Himself|Cameo|||
|rowspan="4"|1998|__|Jacob Mitchell||
|_Armageddon_|Dan Truman||||
|_Homegrown_|Jack Marsden||||
|_Primary Colors_|Richard Jemmons||||
|1999|_Pushing Tin_|Russell Bell|||
|rowspan="3"|2000|__|—|Writer only|
|_The Last Real Cowboys_|Tar|Short films Also writer|||
|_All the Pretty Horses_|—|Producer/director only|||
|rowspan="6"|2001|_South of Heaven, West of Hell_|Brigadier General Smalls||
|_Daddy and Them_|Claude Montgomery|Also writer/director|||
|_Monster's Ball_|Hank Grotowski||||
|_Bandits_|Terry Lee Collins||||
|__|Ed Crane||||
|_Camouflage_|—|Writer only (credited as Reginald Perry)|||
|rowspan="2"|2002|_Waking Up in Reno_|Lonnie Earl Dodd||
|__|Sheriff Darl Hardwick||||
|rowspan="4"|2003|_Bad Santa_|Willie Soke||
|_Love Actually_|President of the U.S.||||
|_Intolerable Cruelty_|Howard D. Doyle||||
|_Levity_|Manuel Jordan||||
|rowspan="3"|2004|_Friday Night Lights_|Coach Gary Gaines||
|__|Davy Crockett||||
|_Chrystal_|Joe||||
|rowspan="2"|2005|__|Vic Cavanaugh||
|_Bad News Bears_|Coach Morris Buttermaker||||
|2006|_School for Scoundrels_|Dr. P. / Dennis Sherman|||
|rowspan="2"|2007|__|Charles Farmer||
|_Mr. Woodcock_|Jasper Woodcock||||
|rowspan="2"|2008|_Eagle Eye_|FBI Agent Thomas Morgan||
|__|William||||
|rowspan="2"|2009|_My Run_|Narrator|Voice only Documentary|
|__|Patrick||||
|2010|_Faster_|Detective Slade Humphries / Cop|||
|rowspan="3"|2011|_The King of Luck_|—|Documentary Director only|
|_Nashville Rises_|Narrator|Voice only Documentary|||
|_Puss in Boots_|Jack|Voice only|||
|rowspan="3"|2013|_Jayne Mansfield's Car_|Skip Caldwell|Also writer/director|
|_The Baytown Outlaws_|Carlos||||
|_Parkland_|Forrest Sorrels||||
|rowspan="2"|2014|_Cut Bank_|Stan Steeley||
|_The Judge_|Dwight Dickham||||
|rowspan="3"|2015|_Into the Grizzly Maze_|Douglas||
|_Entourage_|Larsen McCredle||||
|_Our Brand Is Crisis_|Pat Candy||||
|rowspan="2"|2016|_Whiskey Tango Foxtrot_|General Hollanek||
|_Bad Santa 2_|Willie Soke||||
|rowspan="2"|2018|_London Fields_|Samson Young||
|_A Million Little Pieces_|Leonard||||
|2022|_The Gray Man_|Donald Fitzroy|||
|2023|_Devil's Peak_|Charlie|Post-production||
|2024|_The Electric State_||Post-production||
|2024|Landman|Tommy Norris|||

## Television

|scope="col"|Title|scope="col"|Year|scope="col"|Role|scope="col"  class="unsortable"|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1992|Writer|Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay||||||
|1994|Writer|||||||
|1996|Writer|Humanitas Prize||||||
|1996|Director/Writer|Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay National Board of Review Award for Special Achievement in Filmmaking Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Chlotrudis Award for Best Director Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay||||||
|1996|Story and teleplay|||||||
|2000|Director/Producer|||||||
|2000|Writer|Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Writing||||||
|2001|Story and screenplay|as Reginald Perry||||||
|2001|Director/Writer|||||||
|2012|Director/Writer|||||||

## Video games

|Year|Title|Voice role|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2009|_Deadly Creatures_|Wade||

### Solo

- _Private Radio_ (2001)
- _The Edge of the World_ (2003)
- _Hobo_ (2005)
- _Beautiful Door_ (2007)

### The Boxmasters

- The Boxmasters (Vanguard, 2008)
- Christmas Cheer (Vanguard, 2008)
- Modbilly (Vanguard, 2009)
- Keys To The Kingdom (TBA)
- Bellflower (TBA)

## Other websites

- Official site of Billy Bob Thornton
- Billy Bob Thornton attacks CBC Radio Host
- Six Degrees of Swampland, Billy Bob Thornton
- Swampland: GRITZ Billy Bob Thornton Interview 2008
- Alamo Sentry  Interview with Thornton regarding his role as David Crockett.
- Billy Bob Thornton interview
- "Set For Launch: A Video Interview with the Makers of 'The Astronaut Farmer'"  — eFilmCritic.com video interviews with Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen and the Polish Brothers
- Stumped? Interview
- Billy Bob Thornton: “I Have 5,000 Favorites”

## Infobox (person)

- **height**: 6 ft 0 in
- **image**: Billy Bob Thornton 2017 (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Thornton in 2017
- **birth place**: Hot Springs, Arkansas, U.S.
- **name**: Billy Bob Thornton
- **occupation**: Actor, screenwriter, director, musician
- **years active**: 1974–present
- **spouse**:

- **children**: 4