PROFILPELAJAR.COM

Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton
	Thornton in 2017
Born	August 4, 1955 (age 69); Hot Springs, Arkansas, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, screenwriter, director, musician
Years active	1974–present
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Spouse(s)	Melissa Lee Gatlin (m. 1978⁠–⁠1980); Toni Lawrence (m. 1986⁠–⁠1988); Cynda Williams (m. 1990⁠–⁠1992); Pietra Dawn Cherniak (m. 1993⁠–⁠1997); Angelina Jolie (m. 2000⁠–⁠2003)
Partner	Connie Angland (2003–present)
Children	4

Billy Bob Thornton^[1]^[2]^[3] (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.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.^[4] Thorton grew up in a large family in a shack. It did not have electricity nor plumbing. Thornton graduated from high school in 1973.^[5] He was good high school baseball player. He tried out for the Kansas City Royals, but was let go after an injury.^[6]

In the mid 1980s, Thornton moved to Los Angeles to become an actor.^[1] At first, Thornton had a hard time becoming an actor. He worked in telemarketing, offshore wind farming,^[6] 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.^[1]

Career

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.^[1] 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, direct and star in the independent movie Sling Blade. The movie was released in 1996.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.^[1]

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".^[7] 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,"^[7] 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."^[8] 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.^[9] 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.

Personal life

Relationships and children

Thornton has been married five times. Each marriage ended in divorce. He has four children by three women. From 1978 to 1980, he was married to Melissa Lee Gatlin. They have a daughter, Amanda.^[10] 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.^[11]

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.^[7]^[12] 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.^[13]^[14] They separated in June 2002 and divorced the following year.

Since 2003, Thornton has been in a relationship with Connie Angland. They have a daughter, Bella. The family lives in Los Angeles, California. Thornton has said that he likely will not marry again.^[15] He has said that he thinks that marriage "doesn't work" for him.^[16]

Thornton is the cousin of professional wrestling legends Terry Funk and Dory Funk, Jr.^[17]

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Hunter's Blood	Billy Bob
1988	South of Reno	Counterman
1989	Going Overboard	Dave
1989	Chopper Chicks in Zombietown	Donny
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
1993	Tombstone	Johnny Tyler
	Blood In Blood Out	'Lightning'
	Indecent Proposal	Day Tripper
	Ghost Brigade	Langston
	Trouble Bound	'Coldface'
1994	On Deadly Ground	Homer Carlton
	Floundering	Gun Clerk
	Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade	Karl Childers	Short film Also writer
1995	Dead Man	George 'Big George' Drakoulious
1995	The Stars Fell on Henrietta	Roy
1996	Sling Blade	Karl Childers	Also writer/director
	The Winner	Jack
	A Family Thing	—	Writer only
1997	The Apostle	Troublemaker
	U Turn	Darrell
	Princess Mononoke	Jigo	Voice only (English language dub)
	Burn Hollywood Burn	Himself	Cameo
1998	A Simple Plan	Jacob Mitchell
	Armageddon	Dan Truman
	Homegrown	Jack Marsden
	Primary Colors	Richard Jemmons
1999	Pushing Tin	Russell Bell
2000	The Gift	—	Writer only
	The Last Real Cowboys	Tar	Short films Also writer
	All the Pretty Horses	—	Producer/director only
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
	The Man Who Wasn't There	Ed Crane
	Camouflage	—	Writer only (credited as Reginald Perry)
2002	Waking Up in Reno	Lonnie Earl Dodd
2002	The Badge	Sheriff Darl Hardwick
2003	Bad Santa	Willie Soke
	Love Actually	President of the U.S.
	Intolerable Cruelty	Howard D. Doyle
	Levity	Manuel Jordan
2004	Friday Night Lights	Coach Gary Gaines
	The Alamo	Davy Crockett
	Chrystal	Joe
2005	The Ice Harvest	Vic Cavanaugh
2005	Bad News Bears	Coach Morris Buttermaker
2006	School for Scoundrels	Dr. P. / Dennis Sherman
2007	The Astronaut Farmer	Charles Farmer
2007	Mr. Woodcock	Jasper Woodcock
2008	Eagle Eye	FBI Agent Thomas Morgan
2008	The Informers	William
2009	My Run	Narrator	Voice only Documentary
2009	The Smell of Success	Patrick
2010	Faster	Detective Slade Humphries / Cop
2011	The King of Luck	—	Documentary Director only
	Nashville Rises	Narrator	Voice only Documentary
	Puss in Boots	Jack	Voice only
2013	Jayne Mansfield's Car	Skip Caldwell	Also writer/director
	The Baytown Outlaws	Carlos
	Parkland	Forrest Sorrels
2014	Cut Bank	Stan Steeley
2014	The Judge	Dwight Dickham
2015	Into the Grizzly Maze	Douglas
	Entourage	Larsen McCredle
	Our Brand Is Crisis	Pat Candy
2016	Whiskey Tango Foxtrot	General Hollanek
2016	Bad Santa 2	Willie Soke
2018	London Fields	Samson Young
2018	A Million Little Pieces	Leonard
2022	The Gray Man	Donald Fitzroy
2023	Devil's Peak	Charlie	Post-production
2024	The Electric State	TBA	Post-production

Television

Other screen credits
Title	Year	Role	Notes
One False Move	1992	Writer	Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay
Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade	1994	Writer
A Family Thing	1996	Writer	Humanitas Prize
Sling Blade	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
Don't Look Back	1996	Story and teleplay
All the Pretty Horses	2000	Director/Producer
The Gift	2000	Writer	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Writing
Camouflage	2001	Story and screenplay	as Reginald Perry
Daddy and Them	2001	Director/Writer
Jayne Mansfield's Car	2012	Director/Writer

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Notes
2009	Deadly Creatures	Wade

Discography

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)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 ^1.4 ^1.5 ^1.6 ^1.7 ^1.8 "Billy Bob Thornton". Inside the Actors Studio. Season 8. Episode 18. August 18, 2002.
↑ Vigoda, Arlene (February 7, 1997). "Thornton makes a mark with 'Sling Blade'". USA Today. p. 1D LIFE.
↑ Betsy Model (January 2004). "Rock-a-Billy Bob". Orange Coast Magazine. Vol. 30, no. 1. p. 54.
↑ "Billy Bob Thornton, Astronaut Farmer". BeliefNet.com.
↑ "Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture". Encyclopediaofarkansas.net. Retrieved May 9, 2010.
↑ ^6.0 ^6.1 Pringle, Gill (September 23, 2007). "On the Move: Billy Bob Thornton". The Times. London. Archived from the original on October 17, 2019. Retrieved April 26, 2010.
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 ^7.2 "Billy Bob Hollywood's go-to guy". JAM! Showbiz. Retrieved September 24, 2006.
↑ "School is in session". Daily News. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved September 24, 2006.
↑ "Interview with "School for Scoundrels" Star Billy Bob Thornton". About.com. Archived from the original on January 28, 2008. Retrieved September 25, 2006.
↑ Castro, Peter (April 28, 1997). "Sling This: Mrs. Billy Bob Thornton Angrily Seeks a Divorce". People. 47 (16). Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
↑ Hinckley, David. Billy Bob Thornton accused of stalking former sister-in-law Archived 2012-07-09 at Archive.today. New York Daily News. May 21, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2011.
↑ "What I've Learned: Billy Bob Thornton". Archived from the original on March 29, 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2012.
↑ Smolowee, Jill. Marriage, Interrupted. People. August 5, 2002. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
↑ Stein, Ruthe. Billy Bob Thornton Likes Staying Put. "San Francisco Chronicle". April 26, 2009. Retrieved March 2, 2011.
↑ "Thornton swears off marriage". ShowbizSpy. July 21, 2008. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
↑ The Billy Bob Tapes: A Cave Full of Ghosts B.B. Thornton. 2012. Virgin Digital
↑ Terry Funk: The Hardcore Legend. T Funk. 2005. Sports Pub