James Woods - Career

Career

Woods began his acting career in theatre, making his Broadway debut in 1970 at the Lyceum Theatre in the first US production of Frank McMahon's Borstal Boy. He returned to Broadway the following year portraying David Darst in Daniel Berrigan's The Trial of the Catonsville Nine. In 1971, he portrayed Bob Rettie in the American premiere of Michael Weller's Moonchildren at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. The production moved to Broadway the following year and Woods won a Theatre World Award for his performance. He returned to Broadway in 1973 to portray Steven Cooper in the original production of Jean Kerr's Finishing Touches. Since then, he has worked regularly as an actor, producer, director, and writer for film and television. In 1975, he portrayed an arrogant high school drama teacher and debate team leader in the television sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.

Woods is a prominent Hollywood character actor. He is known for his dark, intense characters. Early examples include his portrayals of a sadistic murderer in 1979's The Onion Field, and of serial killer Carl Panzram in 1994's Killer: A Journal of Murder. He appeared in an episode of The Rockford Files, playing a son whose parents were murdered and wanted James "Jim" Rockford to find the murderer. He was nominated for an Academy Award twice: the first, for Best Actor, for 1986's Salvador, and again in 1996, for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance as Byron De La Beckwith in Ghosts of Mississippi. He garnered critical praise for his voice work as Hades in Disney's Hercules. One of his favorite roles is Max, the domineering gangster, in Sergio Leone's epic film Once Upon a Time in America (1984).

In 1995, Woods took the role of pimp Lester Diamond in Martin Scorsese's Casino. That same year, he portrayed H. R. Haldeman in Nixon, the biopic of Richard M. Nixon, directed by Oliver Stone.

He was briefly considered for the role of The Joker by director Tim Burton and screenwriter Sam Hamm for the 1989 film Batman. Hamm recalls that he and Burton thought, "James Woods would be good and wouldn't need any makeup, which would save a couple of hours' work every morning." The role ended up going to Jack Nicholson. Quentin Tarantino wrote a part in Reservoir Dogs with Woods in mind, but Woods' agent rejected the script without showing it to the actor. When Woods learned of this some time later, he fired the agent. Woods was also considered for the part of Donald Kimball in American Psycho, but he turned it down. The part was given to Willem Dafoe.

Woods again lent his voice in Disney's 2001 animated comedy Recess: School's Out, as antagonist Phillium Benedict, the twisted former headmaster who attempts to abolish summer vacation. He also appeared as a fictional version of himself in the episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homer and Apu" and in five episodes of Family Guy entitled "Peter's Got Woods", "Back to the Woods", "Brian Griffin's House of Payne, "And Then There Were Fewer", and "Tom Tucker: The Man and His Dream". Woods also appeared in the Family Guy episode "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" (a parody of The Empire Strikes Back), but not as himself. Other references in Family Guy include the local high school, James Woods High School, and a forest briefly mentioned in "The Fat Guy Strangler" named James Woods. In 2004, Woods played the character Jallak in the animated film Ark. In the movie Surf's Up, he voices the animated otter who recruits surfers and pits them against each other, and he voices the falcon in Stuart Little 2.

In 2006, Woods starred opposite Cuba Gooding, Jr. in the political thriller End Game. Also in 2006, Woods played himself in the premiere episode of Entourage's third season. He stars in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as Mike Toreno.

Woods also starred in the CBS legal drama TV series Shark, which ran for two seasons between 2006 and 2008. He played an infamous defense lawyer who, after growing disillusioned when his client commits a murder, becomes a successful prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office.

In 2011, Woods appeared as Richard S. Fuld, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers, in HBO's Too Big to Fail, for which he gained an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Mini-series or Movie.