Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. He received international attention after writing, directing and starring in the independent drama film Sling Blade (1996), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. For his role in A Simple Plan (1998), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Thornton is known for his film roles in One False Move (1992), Tombstone (1993), Dead Man (1995), Sling Blade (1996), U Turn (1997), Primary Colors (1998), Armageddon (1998), Monster's Ball (2001), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Bad Santa (2003), and Friday Night Lights (2004). He has written a variety of films, including A Family Thing (1996) and The Gift (2000) and has directed films such as All the Pretty Horses (2000), Daddy and Them (2001) and Jayne Mansfield's Car (2012).
Thornton is also known for his roles on television acting in the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire from 1992 to 1995. In 2014, he starred as Lorne Malvo in the first season of the FX anthology series Fargo, earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie and winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film. From 2016 to 2021, he played Billy McBride in the Amazon legal drama series Goliath, which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. In 2024, he began playing the lead role of Tommy Norris in the Paramount+ series Landman.
Thornton has released four solo albums and is the vocalist of the rock band the Boxmasters. Thornton has been vocal about his distaste for celebrity culture, choosing to avoid the public eye. He has been married six times, including to Angelina Jolie from 2000 to 2003.
Thornton was born on August 4, 1955, in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the son of Virginia Roberta (née Faulkner; 1934–2017), a self-proclaimed psychic, and William Raymond "Billy Ray" Thornton (1929–1974), a high school history teacher and basketball coach. His brother Jimmy Don (April 1958 – October 1988) wrote a number of songs; Thornton recorded two of them ("Island Avenue" and "Emily") on his solo albums. He is of English and part Irish descent. He has two other siblings.
Thornton lived in numerous places in Arkansas during his childhood, including Alpine, Malvern, and Mount Holly. He was raised Methodist. He attended Malvern High School. Thornton struggled academically in school due to dyslexia, for which he was not conclusively diagnosed until later in life. He worked several odd jobs the next few years, including as a roadie, drill press operator, bulldozer operator, and a sawmill worker. A good high school baseball player, he tried out for the Kansas City Royals but was released after an injury. He graduated from Malvern in 1973 and spent a short period laying asphalt for the Arkansas State Transportation Department, before attending Henderson State University to pursue a degree in psychology but dropped out after two semesters.
In the mid-1980s Thornton settled in Los Angeles to pursue his career as a musician with future writing partner Tom Epperson. He had a difficult time succeeding as a musician and worked in telemarketing, offshore wind farming, and fast food management while also auditioning for acting jobs. He played the drums and sang with South African rock band Jack Hammer. While working as a waiter for an industry event, he served film director and screenwriter Billy Wilder. He struck up a conversation with Wilder, who advised Thornton to consider a career as a screenwriter.
1987–1995: Early roles and breakthrough
In September 1987, Thornton appeared on stage in a one-act play, Beethoven Symphonies, as part of the West Coast Theatre Ensemble in Los Angeles. His first on-screen acting role was playing a hillbilly named Billy Bob in the exploitation film Hunter's Blood. He was a stand-in on that film for the whole production, and then appeared in two scenes.
He subsequently appeared in minor roles in the film South of Reno and the 1987 Matlock episode "The Photographer". Another one of his early screen roles was as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in 1989 he appeared as an angry heckler in Adam Sandler's debut film Going Overboard. He played the role of the villain in 1992's One False Move, which he also co-wrote. He also had roles in the 1990s films Indecent Proposal, On Deadly Ground, Bound by Honor, and Tombstone.
1996–2004: Sling Blade and acclaim
He went on to write, direct, and star in the 1996 independent film Sling Blade. The film, an expansion of the short film Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade, introduced the story of a mentally disabled man imprisoned for a gruesome and seemingly inexplicable murder. 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 appeared in several major film roles following the success of Sling Blade. In 1998, he portrayed the James Carville-like Richard Jemmons in Primary Colors. That same year, he appeared in the disaster film Armageddon, and the neo-noir thriller film A Simple Plan, the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His screen persona has been described by the press as that of a "tattooed, hirsute man's man".
Thornton adapted the book All the Pretty Horses into a 2000 film of the same name. The negative experience (he was forced to cut more than an hour of footage) led to his decision to never direct another film; a subsequent release, Daddy and Them, had been filmed earlier. Also in 2000, an early script which he and Tom Epperson wrote together was made into The Gift. In 2001, he directed Daddy and Them while securing starring roles in three Hollywood films: the romantic drama Monster's Ball, the crime comedy-drama Bandits, and the neo-noir film The Man Who Wasn't There. In 2002, Thornton appeared in Travis Tritt's music video for the song "Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde".
Thornton played a malicious mall Santa in 2003's Bad Santa, a black comedy on the set of which he has admitted to getting drunk, and in the same year, portrayed an oil millionaire in the comedy film Intolerable Cruelty, and a womanizing President of the United States in the British romantic comedy film Love Actually. He stated that, following the success of Bad Santa, audiences "like to watch him play that kind of guy" and that "casting directors call him up when they need an asshole". He referred to this when he said that "it's kinda that simple... you know how narrow the imagination in this business can be". In 2004, Thornton starred as Davey Crockett in The Alamo, and played Coach Gary Gaines in the football drama film Friday Night Lights. Also that year, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on October 7.
2005–2013: Career fluctuations
He played a baseball coach in the 2005 sports comedy Bad News Bears, a remake of the 1976 film of the same name. He appeared in the 2006 comic film School for Scoundrels. In the latter film, he plays a self-help doctor, a role which was written specifically for him. Other films include the 2007 drama The Astronaut Farmer and the comedy Mr. Woodcock, in which he played a sadistic gym teacher. In September 2008, he starred in the action film Eagle Eye. He 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. In 2011, Thornton voiced Jack in the animated comedy film Puss in Boots.
Since 2014: Fargo, Goliath and Landman