Bill Pullman

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Bill Pullman in The Virginian.
Bill Pullman in The Virginian.

William "Bill" Pullman (born December 17, 1954) is an American actor.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Pullman was born in Hornell, New York, to James Pullman, a physician, and Johanna Blaas. His maternal grandparents were immigrants from Holland.[1] After moving to suburban Chicago for only a year and a half (Where he graduated Glenbard West High School), he attended the State University of New York at Delhi and the State University of New York at Oneonta in the 1970s. He eventually received his Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Pullman taught theater at SUNY Delhi and Montana State University. When he was 28, he moved to New York City to pursue an acting career.

[edit] Career

In the 1980s, he primarily worked with theatre companies around New York and Los Angeles, California. His first prominent movie role was in the film Ruthless People (which starred Danny DeVito and Bette Midler).

Other notable films included the lead in Spaceballs (1987), The Serpent and the Rainbow (opposite Zakes Mokae), While You Were Sleeping (1995), Independence Day (1996), and Lost Highway (1997). Pullman continues to act in both theatre and in movies, independent and big budget. His more recent films have been The Grudge and Scary Movie 4 (the latter ironically heavily spoofing "The Grudge" though Pullman's part spoofed The Village.)

From February 2002 until September 2002, Pullman starred, with Mercedes Ruehl, in Edward Albee's play The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? on Broadway. The play won several awards: 2002 Tony Award ([1]) for Best Play; 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play; 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Pullman was nominated, but did not win, the 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Play. He will co-star with Val Kilmer in the new Lewis and Clark movie.

[edit] Personal life

Pullman is married to dancer Tamara Hurwitz, and has three children. He lost his sense of smell in college after an injury left him in a coma for two days. Pullman co-owns a cattle ranch with his brother in Montana ([2]).

[edit] Other

American cultural critic Greil Marcus used Pullman as a major piece of his argument in the book "The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice". In the chapter entitled "American Berserk: Bill Pullman's Face", Marcus argued that many different aspects of American culture could be clearly seen in Pullman's facial expressions in various films.

Bill Pullman is often confused with Bill Paxton, another film actor.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/celeb/pullman.htm

[edit] External links

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