Bill Paxton Biography

Birth Name: William Paxton

Birth Place: Fort Worth, TX

Date of Birth / Zodiac Sign: 05/17/1955, Taurus

Profession: Actor; director; producer

Bill Paxton moved to Los Angeles at 18, where he found work in the film industry as a set dresser for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. He made his film debut in the Corman film Crazy Mama (1975), directed by Jonathan Demme. Moving to New York, Paxton studied acting under Stella Adler at New York University. After landing a small role in Stripes (1981), he found steady work in low-budget films and TV.

After graduation, Paxton moved to Los Angeles and began working for the film director Roger Corman as a set designer. His experiences working behind the camera influenced Paxton's decision to pursue acting, which led him to relocate to New York City where he studied under Stella Adler.

He also directed, wrote and produced award-winning short films including Fish Heads (1980), which aired on "Saturday Night Live" (1975). His first appearance in a James Cameron film was a small role in The Terminator (1984), followed by his very memorable performance as Pvt. Hudson in Aliens (1986) and as the nomadic vampire Severen in Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark (1987). Bill also appeared in John Hughes' Weird Science (1985), as Wyatt's sadistic older brother Chet. Although he continued to work steadily in film and TV, his big break did not come until his lead role in the critically acclaimed film-noir One False Move (1992). This quickly led to strong supporting roles as Wyatt Earp's naive younger brother Morgan in Tombstone (1993) and as Fred Haise, one of the three astronauts, in Apollo 13 (1995), as well as in James Cameron's offering True Lies (1994).

Paxton has appeared in such films as Weird Science, Aliens, Apollo 13, Near Dark, Twister, Titanic and True Lies. Four years after appearing in Titanic, he joined James Cameron on an expedition to the actual Titanic. A film about this trip, Ghosts of the Abyss, was released in 2003.

He finally snagged a lead role in the lauded 1992 indie One False Move as a small-town police chief on a crash course with violence. While his nuanced performance upped his profile, he promptly returned to playing second fiddle, albeit in A-list pictures (Apollo 13, Titanic, Twister). He also realized his directing dreams with the 2001 feature Frailty, in which he also starred. As the 2000s wore on, his career slowed down. But it got a nice boost when he signed on as a bigamist businessman on the edgy series Big Love, which debuted in 2006 and showcased his heretofore untapped sex appeal. His lead role In that HBO drama as seemingly sincere, though frequently duplicitous, Bill Henrickson expanded his fame and yielded an often mesmerizing performance: As Larry Hagman did as J.R. Ewing on Dallas, Paxton generally managed to rise above specious story lines and make viewing of Big Love a big joy.