Bruce Willis Biography

Audience will always be reminded about his 'save-the-world' movies. Aside from being famous as Demi Moore's ex-husband, Bruce Willis is also the actor and musician known to have been through lots of ups and downs in his acting profession yet still manages to remain subtle and wise in facing problems, "You can't undo the past... but you can certainly not repeat it." It has to be admitted that it was a really long journey on a rocky road to achieve what he is today, an A-list actor as well as a millionaire. At the age of fifties, he hasn't gone obsolete. Instead, he keeps his works evolving for almost 25 years. Considering the constant fortitude, he is one of the actors who deserve a standing ovation.

The bald actor was born March 19, 1955 in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany. His father David Willis served military there before retiring in 1957 when he moved his family back to New Jersey. Young Willis never dreamt that he would see himself acting. As a child, he had a speech impediment, but magically it disappeared whenever he performed in front of the class. It marked the beginning of his interest in acting. However, graduated from Penns Grove High School, NJ in 1973 after being suspended for three months due to his involvement in a racial confrontation, he wasn't determined to go to college. Instead, he took several ordinary jobs, like security guards, labor works, etc while digging his musical talents as the harmonica player of local blues band Loose Goose. Soon he realized that something was missing. He longed for acting again. Therefore, he quickly registered himself to Montclair State College in New Jersey and majored in drama. His first enroll on stage was Tennessee Williams' "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof." Loving what he was doing, he continued attending auditions in New York.

His performance in the off Broadway play "Fool for Love" by Sam Shepard notably turned some producers heads. Although his name wasn't credited in few of his early movies, like that in "The First Deadly Sin" (1980), "Guru kommt, Ein" (1980) and "The Verdict" (1982), he beat 3000 candidates in line for the audition of "Moonlighting" (1985). However, some obstacles had to be faced here. At first the production company, ABC disagreed upon choosing unknown actor like him to be sided with Cybill Shepherd. Second, his resolute behavior caused behind the scene dispute between himself and other crew. Nevertheless, the problems paid off with the movie became a hit in that year. In 1987 through "Moonlighting" he received an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and the same year also granted him Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical. Certainly, he wouldn't just stand at the opening of the tunnel of stardom. He quickly engaged himself in more projects including two of Blake Edwards' directed movies "Blind Date" (1987) and "Sunset" (1988). It was either the rush or simply bland that the two movies turned out to be complete fiascos. Surprisingly, he also completed a musical comedy "The Return of Bruno" (1987) which also resulted in his first recording album under the same title and in the same year.

Despite the downhill career, he was still lucky meeting the love of his life, Demi Moore and married her on November 21, 1987. The marriage produced three beautiful daughters, Rumer Glenn born in 1988, Scout Larue born in 1991 and Tallulah Belle born in 1994. Having a family was the greatest gift for Willis as he stated, "I'm much more proud of being a father than being an actor." He also added how important his family was "Who I am as a father is far more important to me than the public perception." Ironically, in 1998 Willis and Demi announced their separation without stating any reason. Demi was married to Ashton Kutcher later in 2005 while Willis was seen with some women, mostly models like Rachel Hunter, Eva Jasanovska and Emily Sandberg. He was once engaged to Brooke Burns in 2004 but it failed because they couldn't stand the long distance relationship. Since then Willis hadn't revealed any intention to marry any of his girlfriends. Back to his movie career, finally the attempt to steal the spotlight was re-obtained when he appeared in "Die Hard" (1988). Action packed and fast paced, this movie hit the market demand right on the spot. So popular that Willis had trouble releasing himself from typical roles like the lead character John McClane who was a New York cop.

Amidst the hectic filming schedule he spent sometime recording his rock album titled "If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger" in 1989. Unfortunately, the poor management didn't bring the album any luck. His next movie role made people agree that Willis owned a generous trait of comedy. He provided the voice of Kirstie Alley's baby, Mickey in the witty romance "Look Who's Talking" (1989) and its sequel "Look Who's Talking Too" (1990). Though the two movies were good resumes for Willis, they were nothing compared to his next big hit, "Die Hard 2" (1990). Entailing the previous success, this movie brought another triumph for Willis. Sadly, the subsequent movie was not as good as the latest. Expected to raise itself with the eminent cast, such as Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith and Morgan Freeman, "The Bonfire of the Vanities" (1990) was a disappointment. Since then, somehow Willis was like Sisyphus who had to roll his luck back on top of the hill. Not scoring any more strike for the next four years, he was back on his feet by starring in "Pulp Fiction" (1994). Directed by the prominent Quentin Tarantino, the film was a masterpiece in its peculiarity. Willis who was acting as Butch Coolidge didn't think that his part played a great deal in the movie being nominated by the 1995 Golden Globe Awards as Best Motion Picture - Drama.

By 1994, it was rhetorical to question his quality as a star. The third sequel of Die Hard was made under the title "Die Hard: With a Vengeance" in 1995. This time, he was teamed with Samuel L. Jackson to solve the riddles prepared by a lunatic criminal disguising himself as 'Simon'. From saving New York, Willis' next mission was to save the whole world by appearing in "Twelve Monkeys" (1995). As James Cole, Willis volunteered to travel back to the year 1996 where a virus had shrunk the humankind to only 1% in 2035. This kind of role was suitable for him and it earned him another similar one in tycoon blockbuster "Armageddon" (1998). As Liv Tyler's protective father as well as a professional oil driller, he was asked by NASA to plant an explosive inside a steroid that was about to smash the Earth. Appearing plaintively dead, it was an unforgettable movie. Along with other crew, Will brought this movie approximately $200,000,000 income in U.S. alone.

After the chartbuster, more fascinating and intense movies such as "Mercury Rising," "The Siege," and "Apocalypse" were on Willis' agenda of 1998. Meanwhile in 1999, among his three movies "Breakfast of Champions," "The Story of Us" and "The Sixth Sense," the biggest of all was probably the latter. Directed brilliantly by M. Night Shyamalan, the movie was one of the prime movies of the year. It took as many as six Oscar nominations and it also introduced a young talented actor, Haley Joel Osment. After those backbreaking films, Willis enjoyed his roles in "The Whole Ten Yards" (2000) opposite Matthew Perry, then in Walt Disney's "The Kid" (2000) with young Spencer Breslin and in "Bandits" (2001) co-starring Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett. By that time, he stated that he would no longer doing brutal action or 'save-the world' movies. However, he couldn't deny that he was once again a hero in "Hart's War" (2002) and "Tears of the Sun" (2003).

Producing his own movie, "Hostage" marked the beginning of his 2005 job. His subsequent movie was Frank Miller's novel adaptation of "Sin City" which had unusual cinematography. Then he kept himself busy by taking as many as four projects in 2006 namely "Lucky Number Slevin," "16 Blocks," "Fast Food Nation," and animated flick "Over the Hedge" in which he voiced RJ the Raccoon. The list later smoothly grew larger with the additions of "Alpha Dog," "Grindhouse," "Perfect Stranger," "Live Free or Die Hard," "Black Water Transit," "Morgan's Summit," and "The Last Full Measure," all slated to come up in 2007. This was followed by one more stint in another high-profile picture titled "What Just Happened?" (2008), which featured star-studded cast of Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, and Robin Wright Penn, among others.