Woodrow Tracy "Woody" Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor. He first became known for his role as bartender Woody Boyd on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1985–1993), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series from five nominations. Harrelson received three Academy Award nominations: Best Actor for The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996),  Best Supporting Actor for The Messenger (2009) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).  Other notable films include White Men Can't Jump(1992), Natural Born Killers (1994), The Thin Red Line (1998), No Country for Old Men (2007), Seven Pounds (2008), Zombieland (2009), Seven Psychopaths (2012), Now You See Me (2013), The Edge of Seventeen (2016), War for the Planet of the Apes (2017), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021), and Triangle of Sadness (2022). He also played Haymitch Abernathy in The Hunger Games film series (2012–2015).  Harrelson received further Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his portrayal of Steve Schmidt in the HBO film Game Change (2012) and a detective in the HBO crime anthology series True Detective (2014). He also portrayed E. Howard Hunt in the HBO political limited series White House Plumbers (2023).

Filmography

• 2026Animal Farm — Boxer (voice), Executive Producer
• Brothers — Woody Harrelson, Executive Producer, Story, Creator
• 2026Full Phil — Philip Doom
• 2026Groundswell — Narrator (voice)
• 2025Ella McCay — Eddie McCay
• 2025Kuleana — Narrator (voice)
• 2025Last Breath — Duncan Allcock
• 2025Now You See Me: Now You Don't — Merritt McKinney
• 2025The Electric State — Mr. Peanut (voice)
• 2024Fly Me to the Moon — Moe Berkus
• 2024Suncoast — Paul
• 2023Champions — Marcus, Executive Producer
• White House Plumbers — E. Howard Hunt, Executive Producer
• 2022The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse — Executive Producer
• 2022The Man from Toronto — The Man from Toronto
• 2022Triangle of Sadness — The Captain
• 2021Dear Rider: The Jake Burton Story — Narrator (voice)
• 2021Kate — Varrick
• The Freak Brothers — Freewheelin' Franklin Freek (voice)
• 2021Venom: Let There Be Carnage — Cletus Kasady / Carnage
• 2019Breakthrough — Narrator (voice)
• 2019Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times" — Archie Bunker
• 2019Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" — Archie Bunker
• 2019Midway — Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
• 2019The Highwaymen — Manny Gault, Executive Producer
• 2019Zombieland: Double Tap — Tallahassee
• 2018Solo: A Star Wars Story — Tobias Beckett
• 2018Venom — Cletus Kasady / Carnage
• 2017LBJ — Lyndon B. Johnson
• 2017Lost in London — Woody Harrelson, Director, Writer, Producer
• 2017Shock and Awe — Jonathan Landay
• 2017The Glass Castle — Rex Walls
• 2017Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri — Willoughby
• 2017War for the Planet of the Apes — The Colonel
• 2017Wilson — Wilson
• 2016Now You See Me 2 — Merritt McKinney / Chase McKinney
• 2016The Duel — Abraham Brant
• 2016The Edge of Seventeen — Mr. Bruner
• 2016Triple 9 — Sergeant Detective Jeffrey Allen
• 2015The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 — Haymitch Abernathy
• 2014The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 — Haymitch Abernathy
• True Detective — Martin Hart, Executive Producer
• 2013Free Birds — Jake (voice)
• 2013Now You See Me — Merritt McKinney
• 2013Out of the Furnace — Harlan DeGroat
• The Frame — Haymitch Abernathy
• 2013The Hunger Games: Catching Fire — Haymitch Abernathy
• 2012Game Change — Steve Schmidt
• 2012Seven Psychopaths — Charlie Costello
• 2012The Hunger Games — Haymitch Abernathy
• 2011Ethos — Host
• 2011Friends with Benefits — Tommy Bollinger
• 2011Rampart — Dave Brown
• 2010Bunraku — The Bartender
• 20092012 — Charlie Frost
• 2009Defendor — Arthur Poppington / Defendor
• 2009Management — Jango
• 2009The Messenger — Tony Stone
• 2009Zombieland — Tallahassee
• 2008Burma: It Can't Wait — Divo
• 2008Semi-Pro — Monix
• 2008Seven Pounds — Ezra
• 2008Sleepwalking — Randall
• 2008Surfer, Dude — Jack
• 2008TransSiberian — Roy
• 2007Battle in Seattle — Dale
• 2007Nanking — Bob Wilson
• 2007No Country for Old Men — Carson Wells
• 2007The Grand — One Eyed Jack Faro
• 2007The Walker — Carter Page III
• 2006A Prairie Home Companion — Dusty
• 2006A Scanner Darkly — Ernie Luckman
• 2005North Country — Bill White
• 2005The Big White — Raymond Barnell
• 2005The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio — Kelly Ryan
• 2004After the Sunset — Stan Lloyd
• 2004She Hate Me — Leland Powell
• 2003Anger Management — Galaxia / Security Guard Gary
• 2003Scorched — Jason 'Woods' Valley
• 2003This So-Called Disaster — Taxi Driver
• 2002Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film — Narrator (voice)
• Curb Your Enthusiasm — Woody Harrelson
• 2000Welcome to Hollywood — Woody Harrelson
• 1999Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me — Woody Harrelson
• 1999EDtv — Ray Pekurny
• 1999Grass — Narrator (voice)
• 1999Play It to the Bone — Vince Boudreau
• 1998Palmetto — Harry Barber
• 1998The Hi-Lo Country — Big Boy Matson
• 1998The Thin Red Line — Sgt. William Keck
• Will & Grace — Nathan
• 1997Wag the Dog — Sergeant William Schumann
• 1997Welcome to Sarajevo — Flynn
• E! True Hollywood Story
• 1996Kingpin — Roy Munson
• Spin City — Tommy Dugan
• 1996The People vs. Larry Flynt — Larry Flynt
• 1996The Sunchaser — Dr. Michael Reynolds
• 1995Money Train — Charlie
• 1994I'll Do Anything — Ground Zero Hero
• 1994Natural Born Killers — Mickey Knox
• 1994The Cowboy Way — Pepper Lewis
• Frasier — Woody Boyd
• 1993Indecent Proposal — David Murphy
• HBO First Look
• 1992The Panama Deception — Thanks
• 1992White Men Can't Jump — Billy Hoyle
• 1991Doc Hollywood — Hank Gordon
• 1991L.A. Story — Harris' Boss (uncredited)
• 1991Ted & Venus — Homeless Vietnam Veteran
• 1990Cool Blue — Dustin
• 1990Disneyland's 35th Anniversary Celebration — Woody Boyd
• 1990Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme — Lou the Lamb
• 1990The American Film Institute Presents: TV or Not TV?
• 1990The Earth Day Special — Woody Boyd
• The Simpsons — Woody Boyd (voice)
• 1989True Believer — Man in Dodd's office
• Dear John — Richard
• 1988Killer Instinct — Charlie Long
• 1988Mickey's 60th Birthday — Woody Boyd
• 1988She's Having a Baby — Woody Harrelson (uncredited)
• 1987Bay Coven — Slater
• 1986Wildcats — Krushinski
• Cheers — Woody Boyd
• 1978Harper Valley P.T.A. — Extra (uncredited)
• The Wonderful World of Disney — Woody Boyd
• Armadillo World Headquarters — Executive Producer
• Fruitloops
• Lips Like Sugar — John Carr, Producer
• Sailing — Producer
• Summer of Roses — Thomas, Executive Producer
• The Cackling of the Dodos — Executive Producer
• The Man with the Miraculous Hands — Felix Kersten

Appearances as themselves (59)

• 2026Robert Richardson: The White Devil — Self
• 2025Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music — Self
• 2025SNL50: The Homecoming Concert — Self
• 2023Common Ground — Self
• 2023Willie Nelson 90: Long Story Short — Self
• 2022Homeward Bound: A Grammy Salute to the Songs of Paul Simon — Self
• 2020Kiss the Ground — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2020Roland Emmerich: Man on a Mission — Self
• 2020The Men of Midway — Self
• The Kelly Clarkson Show — Self
• Basketball: A Love Story — Self (archive footage)
• 2018The Origins of Ebbing — Self
• The Nineties — Self (archive footage)
• 2016Must See TV: An All Star Tribute to James Burrows — Self
• 2016Pawns No More: The Making of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 — Self (Haymitch Abernathy)
• Hot Ones — Self
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — Self - Guest, Self - Guest
• 2015The Mockingjay Lives: The Making of the Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 — Self - Haymitch Abernathy
• Late Night with Seth Meyers — Self
• 2014Surviving the Game: Making The Hunger Games: Catching Fire — Self - Haymitch Abernathy
• 2013David Blaine: Real or Magic — Self
• 2012How to Make Money Selling Drugs — Self
• 2012The World Is Watching: Making the Hunger Games — Self - Haymitch Abernathy
• 2012Who Bombed Judi Bari? — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 2011Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis — Self
• 2011The (R)evolution of Immortal Technique — Self
• 20102012: Roland Emmerich - Master of the Modern Epic — Self
• 2010The End of the World: The Actor's Perspective — Self
• 2009Miloš Forman: What Doesn't Kill You… — Self
• 2009Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days — Self
• 2008Behind the Scenes of 'No Country for Old Men': An Incredibly Unauthorized Documentary — Self
• 2008Hempsters: Plant the Seed — Himself
• 2008The Hempire Strikes Back — Self
• 2007Raw for Life — Self
• The Graham Norton Show — Self
• 2006One Summer in Austin: The Story of Filming 'A Scanner Darkly' — Self / Luckman
• 2006The Weight of the Line: Animation Tales — Self
• 2005The Outsider — Self
• 2004Linklater: St. Richard of Austin — Self
• Celebrities Uncensored — Self
• 2003Go Further — Self
• Jimmy Kimmel Live! — Self, Self - Guest
• Real Time with Bill Maher — Self
• The Ellen DeGeneres Show — Self
• 2003Three Stooges 75th Anniversary Special — Self - Host
• 2001American Saint — Self
• 2000The Directors: Milos Forman — Self
• Mark Twain Prize — Self
• The Daily Show — Self
• 1993For Our Children — Self
• MTV Movie & TV Awards — Self - Presenter
• LIVE with Kelly and Mark — Self
• 1987Paul Reiser: Out on a Whim — Self
• The Kennedy Center Honors — Self
• Saturday Night Live — Self - Host, Self - Cameo (uncredited), Self (uncredited)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
• The Oscars — Self
• The Emmy Awards — Self
• Golden Globe Awards — Self - Nominee