Poker Playing Celebrity Biographies

Hey everyone,

I am going to take your advice and start to list some Celebrity Poker Playing Biographies on this blog. I really appreciate your feedback and will begin the poker biography section with my favorite celebrity, James Woods.

James Woods was born in Vernal, Utah in 1947. James Woods studied political science at M.I.T, but left to start his acting career. Woods made his film debut in 'The Visitors' directed by Elia Kazan in 1972. James Woods was sensational in the brilliant film 'Salvador' directed by Oliver Stone in 1986. He was nominated for an Oscar for best actor for his role as journalist, Richard Boyle.

In 1997 James Woods was again nominated for an Oscar. This time for best supporting actor for his work in 'Ghosts of Mississippi'. Although succesful in the movies, Woods has had greater critical success on television, winning Emmys for his performances in 'Promise' (1986) and 'My Name is Bill W.' (1989); and nominations for 'Citizen Cohn', 'Indictment: The McMartin Trial' and, most recently, 'Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story'.

One of Hollywood's most intense supporting and leading actors, James Woods has built a distinguished career on stage, screen, and television. Early in his career, Woods, with his lean body, close-set eyes, and narrow, acne-scarred face, specialized in playing sociopaths, psychopaths, and other crazed villains, but in the 1990s, he added a sizable number of good guys to his resumé.

James Woods gave an extraordinary interview to Amy Reiter that was published in salon.com in August 2003. In it he explains his leaning towards independent film and his history of playing a lot of finks, villains and cheats:

"I've never really done many blockbusters, actually. I wouldn't know how to do them. I couldn't hop around in "Spider-Man" in, like, a little Spandex outfit. I mean, I enjoy going to those movies. I'm really glad they're making them, because it makes it possible to make other movies and it makes this business healthy. But I don't know how good I'd be in them.

"... If you're the more mature, accomplished, middle-aged, white, heterosexual male in that equation, you're usually going to be the villain because that's how those things are set up. And to hop around in a little mask and tights, I can just find better things to do with my time."

Earlier this year (2004) Woods appeared in Bravo TV's Celebrity Poker Showdown where he was the third person knocked out in tournament 2. Please visit our celeb poker player pages to see biographies and poker records of other stars who play poker.

A list of James Woods' movies are:

• Be Cool
• John Q
• End Game
• Night Train
• Stuart Little 2
• Scary Movie 2
• Any Given Sunday
• General's Daughter
• Hercules