Hollywood Bruce Willis

PROFILE

Name : Bruce Willis

Date of Birth : 19 March 1955 (Age: 55)

Place of Birth : Idar-Oberstein, Germany

Height : 6'

Awards : Won 1 Golden Globe

Other names : W.B. WillisBruno

Occupation : Actor, producer, musician

Years active : 1980–present

Spouse : Demi Moore (1987–2000)Emma Heming (2009–present)

BROTHER

Film actor, born on March 19, 1955 in West Germany. Bruce Willis—the name on his birth certificate is actually Walter Bruce Willison—is the oldest of David and Marlene Williston's four children, a group that includes three sons and a daughter. Initially an Army brat—his father was stationed in the West German town of Ida-Oberstein—Willis moved with his family to Carney's Point, New Jersey, in 1957 following his father's discharge.
There, the seeds for the tough, blue collar edge that's come to define so many of Willis' roles were planted as he watched his father feed the family through work as a welder and later a factory employee.
By all accounts Willis, nicknamed Bruno by his friends, was a popular kid with a good sense of humor who in high school was elected Student Council President. He liked pranks and wasn't immune from getting into occasional trouble. Coupled with this, however, was a slightly softer side that centered on his interest in the theater and the stage. It was born oddly enough out of the realization that a stutter that plagued his speech as a youngster, immediately went away as soon as he began performing in front of large groups.
After graduating high school, Willis followed in his father's footsteps and found work with his hands, first in a chemical factory and then as a security guard, before returning to the classroom as a drama student at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Willis' interest in acting didn't wane, but eager to strike out on his own, he quit school after his sophomore year and moved to New York City to try and make it as a working actor.
For Willis, whose acting heroes include Robert De Niro, Gary Cooper, Steve McQueen, and John Wayne, work didn't come easy. He waited tables, tended bar and, when he had the chance, auditioned for roles. His first real break of any kind came in 1977, when he debuted in the off-Broadway play, Heaven and Earth. More stage work followed, but in 1980 Willis jumped over to film when he scored a bit role in the Frank Sinatra film, The Fist Deadly Sin. Two years later he landed another minor part in The Verdict, starring Paul Newman. There was some exposure on the television screen, too, with occasional appearances on episodes of Hart to Hart and Miami Vice.
In 1984, after replacing Ed Harris in the off-Broadway hit, Fool for Love, Willis headed west to Hollywood to audition for the Madonna vehicle, Desperately Seeking Susan. He didn't get the part, but in a decision that would prove to be incredibly smart, stuck around an extra day so that he could audition for a new romantic comedy called Moonlighting, set to debut the following March on ABC.
As the story goes, Willis dressed in combat fatigues and, donning a punk haircut, read for the part of David Addison, a wise-cracking private investigator. He wowed the TV executives with his gregariousness and charming attitude to beat out some 3,000 other actors.

CAREER

In the late 1980s, Willis enjoyed moderate success as a recording artist, recording an album of pop-blues titled The Return of Bruno, which included the hit single "Respect Yourself", promoted by a Spinal Tap-like rockumentary parody featuring scenes of him performing at famous events including Woodstock. Follow-up recordings were not as successful, though Willis has returned to the recording studio several times.
Willis acquired major personal success and pop culture influence playing John McClane in 1988's Die Hard. This film was followed up by Die Hard 2: Die Harder in 1990 and Die Hard With a Vengeance in 1995. These first three installments in the Die Hard series grossed over US$700 million internationally and propelled Willis to the first rank of Hollywood action stars.
In the early 1990s, Willis's career suffered a moderate slump starring in flops such as The Bonfire of the Vanities, Striking Distance, and a film he co-wrote titled Hudson Hawk, among others. He starred in a leading role in the highly sexualized thriller Color of Night (1994), which was very poorly received by critics, but has become popular on video. However, in 1994, he had a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed Pulp Fiction, which gave a new boost to his career. In 1996, he was the executive producer of the cartoon Bruno the Kid which featured a CGI representation of himself.
He went on to play the lead roles in Twelve Monkeys (1995) and The Fifth Element (1997). However, by the end of the 1990s, his career had fallen into another slump with critically panned films like The Jackal, Mercury Rising, and Breakfast of Champions, saved only by the success of the Michael Bay-directed Armageddon which was the highest grossing film of 1998 worldwide. The same year his voice and likeness were featured in the PlayStation video game Apocalypse. In 1999, Willis then went on to the starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's film, The Sixth Sense. The film was both a commercial and critical success and helped to increase interest in his acting career.

In 2000, Willis won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Friends (in which he played the father of Ross Geller's much-younger girlfriend). He was also nominated for a 2001 American Comedy Award (in the Funniest Male Guest Appearance in a TV Series category) for his work on Friends. Also in 2000, Willis played Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski in The Whole Nine Yards alongside Matthew Perry. Willis was originally cast as Terry Benedict in Ocean's Eleven (2001) but dropped out to work on recording an album. In Ocean's Twelve (2004), he makes a cameo appearance as himself. In 2007, he appeared in the Planet Terror half of the double feature Grindhouse as the villain, a mutant soldier. This marks Willis's second collaboration with director Robert Rodriguez, following Sin City.
Willis has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman several times throughout his career. He filled in for an ill David Letterman on his show February 26, 2003, when he was supposed to be a guest. On many of his appearances on the show, Willis stages elaborate jokes, such as wearing a day-glo orange suit in honor of the Central Park gates, having one side of his face made up with simulated buckshot wounds after the Harry Whittington shooting, or trying to break a record (parody of David Blaine) of staying underwater for only twenty seconds.

On April 12, 2007, he appeared again, this time wearing a Sanjaya Malakar wig. His most recent appearance was on June 25, 2007 when he appeared wearing a mini-turbine strapped to his head to accompany a joke about his own fictional documentary titled An Unappealing Hunch (a wordplay of An Inconvenient Truth). Willis also appeared on Japanese Subaru Legacy television commercials. Tying in with this, Subaru did a limited run of Legacys, badged "Subaru Legacy Touring Bruce", in honor of Willis.
Willis has appeared in four films with Samuel L. Jackson (National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Pulp Fiction, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Unbreakable) and both actors were slated to work together in Black Water Transit, before dropping out. Willis also worked with his eldest daughter, Rumer, in the 2005 film Hostage. In 2007, he appeared in the thriller Perfect Stranger, opposite Halle Berry, the crime/drama film Alpha Dog, opposite Sharon Stone, and marked his return to the role of John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard. Recently he appeared in the films What Just Happened and Surrogates, based on the comic book of the same name.
Willis was slated to play U.S. Army general William R. Peers in director Oliver Stone's Pinkville, a drama about the investigation of the 1968 My Lai Massacre. However, due to the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, the film was cancelled.
Willis appeared on the 2008 Blues Traveler album North Hollywood Shootout, giving a spoken word performance over an instrumental blues-rock jam on the track "Free Willis (Ruminations from Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop)". In early 2009, he appeared in an advertising campaign to publicize the insurance company Norwich Union's change of name to Aviva.
He also appeared in the music video for the song "I Will Not Bow" by Breaking Benjamin. The song is from his 2009 science fiction film Surrogates.
Willis starred with Tracy Morgan in the comedy Cop Out, directed by Kevin Smith and about two police detectives investigating the theft of a baseball card. The film was released in February 2010.
Willis appeared in the music video for the song "Stylo" by Gorillaz.
Also in 2010, he appeared in a cameo with former Planet Hollywood co-owners and '80s action stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film The Expendables. Bruce Willis played the role of "Mr. Church". This was the first time these three legendary action stars appeared on screen together. Although the scene featuring the three was short it was one of the most highly anticipated scenes in the film. The trio filmed their scene in an empty church on October 24, 2009.
His most recent project was Red, an adaptation of the comic book mini-series of the same name, in which he portrayed Frank Moses. The film was released on October 15, 2010.

MOVIES LIST

1980 - The First Deadly Sin
1982 - The Verdict
1985 - A Guru Comes
1987 - Blind Date
1988 - The Return of Bruno
1988 - Sunset
1988 - Die Hard
1989 - That's Adequate
1989 - In Country
1989 - Look Who's Talking
1990 - Die Hard 2
1990 - Look Who's Talking Too
1990 - The Bonfire of the Vanities
1991 - Mortal Thoughts
1991 - Hudson Hawk
1991 - Billy Bathgate
1991 - The Last Boy Scout
1992 - The Player
1992 - Death Becomes Her
1993 - National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1
1993 - Striking Distance
1994 - North
1994 - Color of Night
1994 - Pulp Fiction
1994 - Nobody's Fool
1995 - Die Hard with a Vengeance
1995 - Four Rooms
1995 - Twelve Monkeys
1996 - Last Man Standing
1996 - Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
1997 - The Fifth Element
1997 - The Jackal
1998 - Mercury Rising
1998 - Armageddon
1998 - The Siege
1999 - Franky Goes to Hollywood
1999 - Breakfast of Champions
1999 - The Sixth Sense
1999 - The Story of Us
2000 - The Whole Nine Yards
2000 - Disney's The Kid
2000 - Unbreakable
2001 - Bandits
2002 - Hart's War
2002 - Grand Champion
2003 - Tears of the Sun
2003 - Rugrats Go Wild
2003 - Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
2004 - The Whole Ten Yards
2004 - Ocean's Twelve
2005 - Hostage
2005 - Sin City
2006 - Alpha Dog
2006 - 16 Blocks
2006 - Fast Food Nation
2006 - Lucky Number Slevin
2006 - Over The Hedge
2007 - The Astronaut Farmer
2007 - Perfect Stranger
2007 - Grindhouse
2007 - Nancy Drew
2007 - Live Free or Die Hard
2008 - What Just Happened
2009 - Assassination of a High School President
2009 - Surrogates
2010 - A Couple of Dicks
2010 - The Expendables
2010 - Red
2010 - The Last Full Measure
2010 - Catch .44
2011 - The Cold Light of Day
2011 - Ten
2011 - Die Hard 5
2012 - Looper

AWARDS OF TELEVISION & FILMS

For his work on the television show Moonlighting he won an Emmy ("Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series") and a Golden Globe ("Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series — Comedy/Musical") plus received additional nominations for the show.

He was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Best Supporting Actor" for his role in the film In Country

Maxim magazine had named his sex scenes in Color of Night (1994) as the best sex scenes ever in film history.

In the 1999 drama/thriller film, The Sixth Sense, Willis won the Blockbuster Entertainment Award ("Favorite Actor — Suspense") and the People's Choice Award ("Favorite Motion Picture Star in a Drama"). He was also nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actor and received two nominations for the MTV Movie Awards for "Best Male Performance" and "Best On-Screen Duo".

In 2000, Willis won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his work on Friends.

In February 2002, Willis was awarded the Hasty Pudding Man of the Year award from Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. According to the organization, the award is given to performers who give a lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment.

Also in 2002, Willis was appointed as national spokesman for Children in Foster Care by President George W. Bush. Willis wrote online: "I saw Foster Care as a way for me to serve my country in a system by which shining a little bit of light could benefit a great deal by helping kids who were literally wards of the government."

In April 2006, he was honored by French government for his contributions to the film industry. Willis was named "Officier Dans L'ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres" (Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters) in a ceremony in Paris. The French Prime Minister stated "This is France's way of paying tribute to an actor who epitomizes the strength of American cinema, the power of the emotions that he invites us to share on the world's screens and the sturdy personalities of his legendary characters."

On October 16, 2006, Willis was honored with a star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star is located at 6915 Hollywood Boulevard and it was the 2,321st star awarded in its history. Willis, reacting to his reception of the star, stated "I used to come down here and look at these stars and I could never quite figure out what you were supposed to do to get one time has passed and now here I am doing this, and I'm still excited. I'm still excited to be an actor."