James Woods

Voiced surf promoter Reggie Belafonte in the animated feature, "Surf's Up"

Earned an Emmy nomination for Best Guest Actor in a Drama Series for "ER"

Played as an infamous defense lawyer who becomes a prosecutor in the CBS legal drama "Shark"

Portrayed the father of a teen, (Evan Rachel Wood) who accuses her English teacher of sexual harassment in "Pretty Persuasion"; screened at Sundance

Starred as the Republican bulldog and former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the Television feature "Rudy"; Received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie

Lent voice to animated sci-fi adventure feature, "Final Fantasy: The Movie"

Replaced an ailing Marlon Brando in a cameo role as a priest performing an exorcism in "Scary Movie 2"

Contributed voice to animated series, "Clerks: The Cartoon" (ABC)

Played father of five girls in Sofia Coppola's feature directorial debut, "The Virgin Suicides"

Portrayed Dennis Barrie, who as director of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center booked an exhibit of images by the controversial photographer Robert Maplethorpe, in "Dirty Pictures" (Showtime)

Portrayed the disarmingly insightful and manipulative Colonel Moore in summer military thriller, "The General's Daughter"

Reteamed with Olvier Stone for the football-themed "Any Given Sunday"

Honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (October 15)

Reteamed with Melanie Griffith as a drug dealing, thieving couple in "Another Day in Paradise"; also produced

Starred as a vampire hunter in "John Carpenter's Vampires"

Voiced the character of Hades in Disney's animated feature "Hercules" and the subsequent ABC spin-off series

Received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination portraying Byron de la Beckwith, the killer of Civil Rights activist Medgar Evans, in the earnest "Ghosts of Mississippi"

Turned in a remarkably nuanced portrait of a jailed murderer in the overlooked "Killer: A Journal of Murder"

Co-starred in the Showtime special "Curse of the Starving Class", adapted from Sam Shepard's play

Featured as H.R. Haldeman in Stone's "Nixon"

Starred in the acclaimed HBO movie "Indictment: The McMartin Trial"

Played romantic lead opposite Dolly Parton in "Straight Talk"

Starred as Roy Cohn in HBO biopic "Citizen Cohn"

Essayed real-life lawyer Eddie Dodd in "True Believer"

Won second Emmy Award playing Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in the ABC "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation "My Name Is Bill W."

First film as producer, "Cop"; also starred

Portrayed Vietnam POW James Stockdale in the NBC biography "In Love and War"

Co-starred with James Garner in "Promise", a CBS "Hallmark Hall of Fame" special, playing Garner's younger schizophenic brother; earned Emmy Award

Won critical and audience attention for "Salvador", directed by Oliver Stone; received first Oscar nomination as Best Actor

Offered a fine villainous turn in "Against All Odds" as rival with Jeff Bridges for Rachel Ward

Starred in David Cronenberg's "Videodrome"

Breakthrough role as unrepentant villain in "The Onion Field"

TV miniseries debut, "Holocaust" (NBC)

Acted in the ensemble of the comedy-drama "The Choirboys"

Initial screen collaboration with Melanie Griffith, "Night Moves", directed by Arthur Penn

Had small role as a pal of Barbra Streisand in "The Way We Were"

Film debut in Elia Kazan's "The Visitors"

TV-movie debut in "All the Way Home" (aired as part of NBC's "Hallmark Hall of Fame")

Broadway debut, "Borstal Boy"

Acted in numerous plays at Harvard, at MIT and with the Theater Company of Boston before moving to New York City

Family settled in Warwick, Rhode Island

Moved frequently as a child due to father's military career