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| Birth Name(s) : Billy Bob Thornton |
Date of Birth: August 4, 1955 |
| Status:
Married
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Partner:
N/A |
| Profession:
Actor/Musician |
Official Site
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Full Billy Bob Thornton Biography
| Billy Bob Thornton claims he's the reincarnation of Ben Franklin, has been married 5 times and has been hospitalized with heart problems due to malnutrition. After attempting to begin his artistic career as a musician and several years of scripts that wouldn't sell, 1992 was Billy Bob's big break year. His starring role in "One False Move", a movie he co-wrote, finally received positive Hollywood attention. |
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Additional Billy Bob Thornton Biography
Thornton was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas to Billy Ray Thornton, a high school history teacher and basketball coach, and Virginia Roberta (née Faulkner), a psychic. Thornton has three younger brothers, Jimmy Don, born in 1958 and now deceased, Jim Bean, and John David, born in 1969. Thornton lived in both Alpine, Arkansas and Malvern, Arkansas during his childhood, and also spent time with his grandfather, Otis Thornton, a forest ranger, in a small shack in the woods. Thornton is the cousin of noted professional wrestlers Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk.
A good school baseball player, he tried out for the Kansas City Royals, but was let go after an injury. After a short period laying asphalt for the Arkansas State Transportation Dept., he attended Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where he studied psychology but dropped out after two semesters.
Thornton put Wilder's advice to good use, and went on to write, direct and star in the independent film Sling Blade, which was released in 1996. The film, an expansion of a short film titled Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade, told the story of Karl Childers, a mentally handicapped man. Sling Blade garnered international acclaim. Thornton's screenplay earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, a Writers Guild of America Award, and an Edgar Award, while his performance received Oscar and Screen Actors Guild nominations for Best Actor. Thornton adapted the book All the Pretty Horses into a 2000 film with the same name, starring Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz. The negative experience (he was forced to cut more than an hour) led to his decision to never direct another film (a subsequent release, Daddy and Them, was filmed earlier). Also in 2000, an early script which he and Tom Epperson wrote together was made into The Gift which starred Cate Blanchett, Hilary Swank, Keanu Reeves, Katie Holmes and Giovanni Ribisi.
Thornton's screen persona has been described by the press as that of a "tattooed, hirsute man's man". He appeared in several major film roles following Sling Blade 's success, including 1998's Armageddon and A Simple Plan, 2001's Monster's Ball and 2004's The Alamo, in which he played Davy Crockett. He played a malicious mall Santa Claus in 2003's Bad Santa, a black comedy that performed well at the box office and established Thornton as a leading comic actor. Thornton has stated that following Bad Santa's success, audiences "like to watch play that kind of guy" and "they call me up when they need an asshole. It's kinda that simple... you know how narrow the imagination in this business can be". He appeared in the comic film School for Scoundrels, which was released on September 29, 2006. In the film, he plays a self-help doctor; the role was written specifically for Thornton. His most recent film roles were The Astronaut Farmer, a drama released on February 23, 2007, and the comedy, Mr. Woodcock, in which Thornton plays a sadistic gym teacher. He will next star in the drama Peace Like a River. Thornton has also expressed an interest in directing another film, possibly a period piece about cave explorer Floyd Collins, based on the book Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins by Robert K. Murray and Roger Brucker.
Thornton has repeatedly stated that he has obsessive-compulsive disorder; he and rock singer Warren Zevon became close friends after sharing their common experiences with the disorder. He is known for various idiosyncratic behaviors, well-documented in interviews with the actor. Among these is a phobia of antique furniture, something shared by the Dwight Yoakam character in the Thornton-penned Sling Blade. That trait was also added to Thornton's character in the 2001 film Bandits. Additionally, he has stated that he has a fear of certain types of silverware, a trait which was included for his character in 2001's Monster's Ball, in which his character requests a plastic spoon each time he consumes his daily bowl of chocolate ice cream.
Thornton lives in Los Angeles. He has been married five times, most notably to actress Angelina Jolie. The pair were known for their eccentric behavior, including reports that they wore vials of each others' blood around their necks; he later clarified this to be that the two of them wore small lockets that contained a drop of blood from each of them inside. Thornton and Jolie adopted a child from Cambodia renamed Maddox. Jolie's divorce petition named the child as being both hers and Thornton's offspring and requested the Court grant her custody and Thornton reasonable parenting time. He is the father of four other children: Amanda Spence with his first wife, Melissa Gatlin; William Langston and Harry James with his fourth wife, Pietra Cherniak; and Bella, with Connie Angland, who is Thornton's current girlfriend. Thornton has also stated that he will likely not marry again; he has specified that he believes that marriage "doesn't work" for him.
On September 11, 2003, Thornton had received word that his ex-Hearts Afire and Slingblade star, John Ritter, had died, while filming the last movie Bad Santa, which was dedicated to him. He, along with Markie Post, attended Ritter's funeral four days after his co-star's death. |
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Billy Bob Thornton Quote(s)
| Acting is playing--it's actually going out on a playground with the other kids and being in the game, and I need that. Writing satisfies that part of myself that longs to sit in my room and dream. |
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