ACTOR · BORN 1961
Woody Harrelson
- Born
- 23 July 1961, Midland, Texas, USA
- Known for
- The Hunger Games (2012), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), Venom (2018), Now You See Me (2013)
57 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
All facts (57)
- #001
In June 1983, Woody Harrelson was arrested in Columbus, Ohio, and charged with disorderly conduct after dancing in the street and stopping traffic; he later jumped from a moving police van, laughed wildly and eventually punched one of the two arresting officers.
- #002
Woody Harrelson's father, the hitman Charles Harrelson (Charles Voyde Harrelson), was arrested in 1979 in San Antonio, Texas, for the murder of Federal Judge John H. Wood Jr.
- #003
Woody Harrelson is a big Bill Murray fan. Bill appeared in Zombieland (2009) as a favor to Woody.
- #004
A jury in Beattyville, Kentucky, rejected the marijuana possession charge against Woody Harrelson. In 1996 he was arrested for planting 4 hemp seeds in rural Kentucky, and in his defense he said he was protesting a state law that makes no distinction between marijuana and hemp, even though hemp contains very little of the drug found in marijuana and can be used to make various industrial products.
- #005
Woody Harrelson is a close friend of Michael J. Fox.
- #006
Woody Harrelson affectionately refers to his three daughters as his "Goddess trilogy."
- #007
Woody Harrelson lives in Hana, Maui, and his neighbors include Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson. The three are known to play poker together.
- #008
Woody Harrelson is an activist for the legalization of marijuana.
- #009
Woody Harrelson climbed the Golden Gate Bridge and hung a sign reading "Hurwitz. Aren't ancient redwoods more precious than gold?" to protest MAXXAM/Pacific Lumber CEO Charles Hurwitz, who once said, "He who has the gold, makes the rules."
- #010
Woody Harrelson is good friends with the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- #011
Woody Harrelson's father was Charles Harrelson, a contract killer who worked for the mafia and claimed, without any evidence, to have taken part in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
- #012
Woody Harrelson admits to being a sex addict.
- #013
Woody Harrelson played the same character (Woody Boyd) in three different series: Cheers (1982), The Simpsons (1989) and Frasier (1993).
- #014
Woody Harrelson and about a dozen other hemp activists and environmentalists made a bicycle tour along the west coast of America, starting in Seattle, Washington, and ending 1000 miles later at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The tour was accompanied by the Mothership, a Chicago city transit bus powered by hemp oil and solar panels. The journey was documented in the film Go Further (2003).
- #015
Woody Harrelson is the first Oscar-nominated regular cast member of Cheers (1982) and, as of 2005, its only one.
- #016
Woody Harrelson lives in Costa Rica with Laura Louie and their children.
- #017
In 1991, Woody Harrelson went to Nairobi, Kenya, to experience Africa and get away from everything, and lived in a tent on the outskirts of the city for several weeks.
- #018
Woody Harrelson wanted to play Jake Brigance in A Time to Kill (1996), but author John Grisham objected to his being cast.
- #019
Friends from the rock band Hootie & the Blowfish — Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber and Jim 'Soni' Sonefeld — wrote the song "Woody" about him. The track appears on the band's self-titled 2003 album.
- #020
Woody Harrelson has appeared in four films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: The Thin Red Line (1998), No Country for Old Men (2007), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) and Triangle of Sadness (2022). No Country for Old Men won in the category.
- #021
Woody Harrelson is a friend of Owen Wilson.
- #022
Woody Harrelson is a close friend of Wesley Snipes.
- #023
Woody Harrelson claims to have worked 17 jobs in a single year.
- #024
Woody Harrelson is the lead singer of the bands Moonlights, Manly Moondog and Three Kool Hats.
- #025
Woody Harrelson has three daughters with Laura Louie: Denni Harrelson (b. February 26, 1993), Zoe Harrelson (b. September 22, 1996) and Makani Harrelson (b. June 3, 2006).
- #026
Woody Harrelson was considered for the role of Lester Burnham in American Beauty (1999).
- #027
Woody Harrelson graduated from Hanover College in 1983 with a degree in theater arts and English. He is a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity.
- #028
Woody Harrelson and Nancy Simon married in Tijuana, Mexico.
- #029
Woody Harrelson is a co-owner of the Inn at the Black Olive, a boutique organic hotel in Baltimore, Maryland.
- #030
Woody Harrelson owns an oxygen bar in West Hollywood, California.
- #031
One of Woody Harrelson's first plays was playwright Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues" in 1984; Harrelson was Simon's former son-in-law.
- #032
Woody Harrelson was married to Neil Simon's daughter Nancy Simon. He has also been in relationships with Carol Kane, Ally Sheedy and Moon Unit Zappa.
- #033
Woody Harrelson has worked with eight directors who won the Best Director Oscar: James L. Brooks, Oliver Stone, Michael Cimino, Miloš Forman, Barry Levinson, Ron Howard and Joel Coen & Ethan Coen.
- #034
Woody Harrelson was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame in Austin, Texas, in March 2003.
- #035
Woody Harrelson shares the same birthday (July 23) with his "Hunger Games" co-star Philip Seymour Hoffman.
- #036
The longest gap between Woody Harrelson's Oscar nominations is the 13 years between The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) and The Messenger (2009).
- #037
Woody Harrelson sits on the board of directors of the Ex'pression Center for New Media, an art school in Emeryville, California.
- #038
Woody Harrelson has English, Scottish, German, and distant Dutch and Welsh ancestry.
- #039
Woody Harrelson was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.
- #040
Woody Harrelson attended Hanover College in Indiana alongside US Vice President Mike Pence.
- #041
Woody Harrelson considers Howard Zinn his personal hero.
- #042
Woody Harrelson appeared in a film selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: No Country for Old Men (2007).
- #043
Woody Harrelson is the brother of Brett Harrelson and Jordan Harrelson.
- #044
When both were starting out, Woody Harrelson shared a room in New York with his close friend Rob Moran.
- #045
Woody Harrelson was set to star alongside Ed Harris in Danny Boyle's firefighter drama "Worcester Cold Storage," but the project never came to fruition.
- #046
Woody Harrelson was the singer of the band Madly Moondog and Three Kool Kats.
- #047
Woody Harrelson attended the 2009 Comic-Con International in San Diego, California.
- #048
Woody Harrelson attended the Sony Ericsson Open held on April 5 in Key Biscayne, Florida, together with Owen Wilson.
- #049
Woody Harrelson attended the 56th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany.
- #050
Woody Harrelson attended the Maui Film Festival in Hawaii in 2004.
- #051
Woody Harrelson attended the London Film Festival in England in 2002.
- #052
Woody Harrelson attended the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
- #053
Woody Harrelson attended the North County premiere in London, England, on February 1.
- #054
Woody Harrelson attended the 10th Annual Palm Beach International Film Festival in Florida.
- #055
Woody Harrelson attended the 32nd Annual Toronto International Film Festival in Canada.
- #056
Woody Harrelson attended the 2008 Cannes Film Festival in France.
- #057
Woody Harrelson attended the premiere of The Messenger (2009) at the 59th Berlin Film Festival in Germany.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work