Woods, James, 1947-

James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. Known for fast-talking, intense roles on screen and stage, he has received numerous accolades, including three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards and three Actor Awards. Woods made his Broadway debut in the Elliott Baker play The Penny Wars (1969). His early films roles include The Visitors (1972), The Way We Were (1973) and The Gambler (1974), before starring with Meryl Streep in the NBC miniseries Holocaust (1978). He rose to prominence portraying Gregory Powell in The Onion Field (1979). He earned two Academy Awards nominations: one for Best Actor for his role as Richard Boyle in Salvador (1986) and for Best Supporting Actor for playing Byron De La Beckwith in Ghosts of Mississippi (1996). His notable films include Videodrome (1983), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Straight Talk (1992), Chaplin (1992), Casino (1995), Nixon (1995), Hercules (1997), Contact (1997), Another Day in Paradise (1998), Any Given Sunday (1999), The Virgin Suicides (1999), and White House Down (2013). He served as an executive producer on Christopher Nolan's historical epic film Oppenheimer (2023). On television, he won two Primetime Emmy Awards for portraying a man with schizophrenia in the CBS movie Promise (1987) and Bill W. in the ABC film My Name Is Bill W. (1989). He also played Roy Cohn in Citizen Cohn (1992) and Dick Fuld in Too Big to Fail (2011). He starred in the legal series Shark (2006–2008), and acted in the crime series Ray Donovan (2013). He has voiced roles for Hercules (1997), Recess: School's Out (2001), Stuart Little 2 (2002) and Surf's Up (2007), as well as voicing himself in The Simpsons (1993), and Family Guy (2005–2016).