Biography
James Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, Hercules, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won two Emmy Awards, and has gained two Academy Award nominations.
Known For
Complete Filmography

Once Upon a Studio
2023
as Hades (voice)
Created for Disney's 100th anniversary, the short features Mickey Mouse corralling a gallery of legendary Disney characters for a group photo.

Oppenheimer
2023
Executive Producer
The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

Dean Martin: King of Cool
2021
as Self
Dean Martin had a laid-back charm that made him successful in everything from big-screen comedies to television variety shows to live acts in Las Vega...

A Journey to Sundance
2021
as Self
'A JOURNEY TO SUNDANCE' is about the spirit, dreams and struggles of independent filmmakers from all over the world, as well as my own struggles to fi...

First Contact
2016
as Narrator
After a close encounter with a UFO, a man becomes a trance channel for an extraterrestrial entity, which leads to a deeper investigation on the nature...

Bling
2016
as Victor (voice)
Lowly theme park mechanic Sam dreams about his childhood sweetheart Sue. With the mistaken belief that only a bling ring can win the girl of his dream...

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau
2014
as Self (archive footage)
The story of the insane scandals related to the remake of “Island of Dr. Moreau” —originally a novel by H. G. Wells—, which was brought to the big scr...

Jamesy Boy
2014
as Lt. Falton
Based on the true story of teenager James Burns who goes from a suburban street gang to a maximum-security prison cell surrounded by hardened criminal...

Any Given Tuesday
2013
as Self
Any Given Tuesday is an awareness short film about an unsuspecting teen discovered to be gay by his non-accepting parents. Subsequently, this young bo...

Jobs
2013
as Jack Dudman
The story of Steve Jobs' ascension from college dropout into one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century.

White House Down
2013
as Chief SAIC Martin Walker
Capitol Policeman John Cale has just been denied his dream job with the Secret Service protecting President James Sawyer. Not wanting to let down his ...

Mary and Martha
2013
as Mary's Father
Wealthy American housewife Mary Morgan takes her bullied son George out of school for home education,including a trip to Southern Africa. Whilst in Mo...

Officer Down
2013
as Captain Verona
When a cop's crooked past comes back to get him, can he do the right thing, or will he succumb to the threats of his dangerous connections?

Too Big to Fail
2011
as Dick Fuld
An intimate look at the epochal financial crisis of 2008 and the powerful men and women who decided the fate of the world's economy in a matter of a f...

Straw Dogs
2011
as Tom Heddon
A young couple moves to a quaint southern town. Soon their perfect getaway turns out to become a living hell when dark secrets and lethal passions spi...

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths
2010
as Owlman (voice)
A heroic version of Lex Luthor from an alternate universe appears to recruit the Justice League to help save his Earth from the Crime Syndicate, an ev...

Family Guy Presents: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side
2009
as James Woods as General Veers (voice)
Peter makes good on another power outage at home by retelling Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

An American Carol
2008
as Todd Grosslight
A cynical anti-American Hollywood filmmaker sets out on a crusade to abolish the 4th of July holiday. He is visited by three spirits who take him on a...

Surf's Up
2007
as Reggie Belafonte (voice)
A young surfer enters his first contest, hoping a win will earn him respect. But an encounter with a laid-back local forces him to rethink his values.

End Game
2006
as Vaughn Stevens
Alex Thomas was the man in charge of protecting the president but, when the time came to fulfill his duties, everything just went wrong. His conscienc...

Free as a Dog
2006
Jack McCoy’s latest film for Billabong! Featuring Joel Parkinson and Australian supergroms James Wood and Ellis Ericson. Narrated by Parko’s trusty ho...

Ark
2005
as Jallak (voice)
The population of the planet Alcyone is split in two; the cultures of the Ceveans and the Storrions are locked in eternal war, destroying their home. ...

Buddy
2005
as Narrator
The story of the often contradictory and always audacious public figure, Vincent A. "Buddy" Cianci, the former Mayor of Providence, RI. The film track...

Be Cool
2005
as Tommy Athens
Disenchanted with the movie industry, Chili Palmer tries the music industry, meeting and romancing a widow of a music executive along the way.

Pretty Persuasion
2005
as Hank Joyce
A 15-year-old girl incites chaos among her friends and a media frenzy when she accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment.

This Girl's Life
2004
as Pops
"Slice of life" take on life of international porn celebrity, Moon, and her musings on modern life, love and loss.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - The Introduction
2004
as Toreno (voice)
Tension builds as threats are carried out, stakes are raised and communication breaks down. In Los Santos a drive-by shooting in Grove Street Family's...

The Easter Egg Adventure
2004
as Grab Takit (voice)
The idyllic Egg Town is the location for the The Easter Egg Adventure, which sees the beautiful location under threat from some dastardly thieves. Mak...

Videodrome: Forging the New Flesh
2004
as Self
Through the use of interviews (both vintage and new) with various cast and crew members, including Rick Baker, Bill Sturgeon, David Cronenberg, James ...

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession
2004
as Self
A documentary on the Z Channel, one of the first pay cable stations in the US, and its programming chief, Jerry Harvey. Debuting in 1974, the LA-based...
Bare Knuckle Filming: The Construction of Northfork
2003
A short behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of "Northfork" (2003).

101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment
2003
From Disturbing Discoveries to Astonishing Arressts, and Tragic Endings. In this tv-special, E! countdowns the greatest moments in the entertainment i...

Northfork
2003
as Walter O'Brien
The year is 1955, and a great flood is coming to Northfork, Montana. A new hydroelectric dam is about to be installed in the mountains above the town,...

Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story
2003
as Rudy Giuliani
Biographic movie of the witty, overachieving, hot-tempered Rudy Giuliani, spanning from his rising days as a New York district attorney in the early 1...

Rolie Polie Olie: The Great Defender of Fun
2002
as Gloomius Maximus (voice)
The evil space pirate Gloomius Maximus is determined that since he can't have fun, nobody else will either. Unfortunately for our heroes, an invitatio...

Stuart Little 2
2002
as Falcon (voice)
Stuart, an adorable white mouse, still lives happily with his adoptive family, the Littles, on the east side of Manhattan's Central Park. More crazy m...

John Q
2002
as Dr. Raymond Turner
John Quincy Archibald is a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because ...

Mickey's House of Villains
2001
as Hades (voice)
The villains from the popular animated Disney films are gathered at the House of Mouse with plans to take over. Soon, the villains take over the house...

Race to Space
2001
as Dr. Wilhelm von Huber
In the 1960s a young woman works at NASA as an animal trainer responsible for the chimpanzee who will go into space.

Riding in Cars with Boys
2001
as Leonard Donofrio
In 1965, a young woman with dreams of becoming a writer has a son at the age of 15 and struggles to make things work with the drug-addicted father.

America | A Tribute to Heroes
2001
as Self
A benefit concert and telethon organized by George Clooney and broadcast uninterrupted and commercial-free by the four major television networks just ...

Breaking the Silence: The Making of Hannibal
2001
as Self
Several aspects of Ridley Scott's masterpiece Hannibal (2001) are examined through interviews with the cast and crew, and behind the scenes footage. W...

Scary Movie 2
2001
as Father McFeely
While the original parodied slasher flicks like Scream, Keenen Ivory Wayans's sequel to Scary Movie takes comedic aim at haunted house movies. A group...

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
2001
as General Hein (voice)
Led by a strange dream, scientist Aki Ross struggles to collect the eight spirits in the hope of creating a force powerful enough to protect the plane...
Into the Valley of Death
2001
as Self
Documentary on the making of Salvador (1986).
Playboy Mansion Parties Uncensored
2001
as Self
See inside the exclusive Playboy Mansion, with parties attended by all the A-List celebrities

Recess: School's Out
2001
as Dr. Phillium Benedict (voice)
The school year is finally ending, and T.J. Detweiler is looking forward to summer. But boredom quickly sets in when his friends leave for camp — unti...

The Making of The Virgin Suicides
2000
as Self
While Sofia Coppola directed her first feature, her mother, the artist and filmmaker Eleanor Coppola, was there to document the experience.

The American Nightmare
2000
as Self
An examination into the nature of 1960's-70's horror films, the involved artists, and how they reflected contemporary society.

The Making of Hercules
2000
as Self
Behind the scene footage of Disney's 35th full length animated feature.

Dirty Pictures
2000
as Dennis Barrie
A Cincinnati museum director goes on trial in 1990 for exhibiting sadomasochistic photographs taken by Robert Mapplethorpe.

The Virgin Suicides
2000
as Mr. Lisbon
A group of male friends become obsessed with five mysterious sisters who are sheltered by their strict, religious parents.

Once Upon a Time: Sergio Leone
2000
as Self
A short documentary based on Sergio Leone's life and career, and the making of the film "Once Upon a Time in America."

Play It to the Bone
1999
as James Woods (Ringside Fan)
Two aging fighters in LA, friends, get a call from a Vegas promoter because his undercard fighters for a Mike Tyson bout that night are suddenly unava...

Any Given Sunday
1999
as Dr. Harvey Mandrake
A star quarterback gets knocked out of the game and an unknown third stringer is called in to replace him. The unknown gives a stunning performance an...

Hercules: Zero to Hero
1999
as Hades (voice) (archive sound)
After defeating Hades for good, Hercules marries Meg and revisits his teenage years. In particular, it shows an adolescent Hercules's enrollment and t...

The General's Daughter
1999
as Colonel Robert Moore
When the body of Army Capt. Elisabeth Campbell is found on a Georgia military base, two investigators, Warrant Officers Paul Brenner and Sara Sunhill,...

True Crime
1999
as Alan Mann
Boozer, skirt chaser, careless father. You could create your own list of reporter Steve Everett's faults but there's no time. A San Quentin Death Row ...

Another Day in Paradise
1998
as Mel
In the hope of a big score, two junkie couples team up to commit various drug robberies which go disastrously wrong, leading to dissent, violence, and...

Another Day in Paradise
1998
Producer
In the hope of a big score, two junkie couples team up to commit various drug robberies which go disastrously wrong, leading to dissent, violence, and...

Vampires
1998
as Jack Crow
The church enlists a team of vampire-hunters to hunt down and destroy a group of vampires searching for an ancient relic that will allow them to exist...

America's Endangered Species: Don't Say Good-bye
1998
as Narrator
This is a documentary about two photographers work to document and raise awareness about endangered animal and plant species in USA.

Kicked in the Head
1997
as Uncle Sam
When Redmon finds himself out of home and job, his life becomes a series of unpredictable escapades - from dodging gunfire after his uncle makes him d...

Contact
1997
as Michael Kitz
A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and ...

Hercules
1997
as Hades (voice)
Bestowed with superhuman strength, a young mortal named Hercules sets out to prove himself a hero in the eyes of his father, the great god Zeus. Along...

Ghosts of Mississippi
1996
as Byron De La Beckwith
A Mississippi district attorney and the widow of Medgar Evers struggle to bring a white supremacist to justice for the 1963 murder of the civil rights...

The Summer of Ben Tyler
1996
as Temple Rayburn
Set early during World War II, the film has a lot to say about love, honor, relationships, commitment and power. Keeping their promise to their dying ...

Killer: A Journal of Murder
1996
as Carl Panzram
Carl Panzram is sent to Leavenworth Prison for burglary. While there, he is brutally beaten by a guard. Neophyte guard Henry Lesser feels sympathy for...

Nixon
1995
as H.R. Haldeman
A look at President Richard M. Nixon—a man carrying the fate of the world on his shoulders while battling the self-destructive demands from within—spa...

Casino
1995
as Lester Diamond
In early-1970s Las Vegas, Sam "Ace" Rothstein gets tapped by his bosses to head the Tangiers Casino. At first, he's a great success in the job, but ov...

Indictment: The McMartin Trial
1995
as Danny Davis
The McMartin family's lives are turned upside down when they are accused of serious child molestation. The family run a school for infants. An unquali...

For Better or Worse
1995
as Reggie Makeshift
A comic love triangle wherein a loser falls in love with his recently-married brother's wife.

The Specialist
1994
as Ned Trent
May Munro is a woman obsessed with getting revenge on the people who murdered her parents when she was still a girl. She hires Ray Quick, a retired ex...

Curse of the Starving Class
1994
as Weston Tate
Curse of the Starving Class is a play by Sam Shepard, considered the first of a series on family tragedies. Drama about a dirt-poor 1950's-era farm fa...

Next Door
1994
as Matt Coler
Matt and Karen have inconsiderate neighbours whose lawn sprinkler drowns their flowers. A feud errupts and a series of tit-for-tat actions develop and...

The Getaway
1994
as Jack Benyon
An ex-con and his devoted wife must flee from danger when a heist doesn't go as planned.

Jane's House
1994
as Paul Clark
Paul Clark and his children are still heartbroken a year after the death of Jane, Paul's wife. When he unexpectedly falls in love with Mary, a former ...

Chaplin
1992
as Joseph Scott
An aged Charlie Chaplin narrates his life to his autobiography's editor, including his rise to wealth and comedic fame from poverty, his turbulent per...

Citizen Cohn
1992
as Roy Marcus Cohn
As lawyer and power broker Roy Cohn lies dying of AIDS in a private hospital room, ghosts from his past visit him as he reflects on his life and loves...

Diggstown
1992
as Gabriel Caine
Gabriel Caine has just been released from prison when he sets up a bet with a business man who owns most of Diggstown, a boxing-mad town. The bet is t...

Straight Talk
1992
as Jack Russell
Honest and straightforward small-town Shirlee Kenyon chucks her boyfriend and heads for Chicago. Accidentally having to host a radio problem phone-in ...

The Boys
1991
as Walter Farmer
When Walter is diagnosed with lung cancer, despite his squeaky clean lifestyle, he has to tell his screenwriter partner, a chain-smoker. As Walter fig...

The Hard Way
1991
as John Moss
Seeking to raise his credibility as an actor and to land a role as a tough cop on a new show, Hollywood action star Nick Lang works a deal with New Yo...

Voices That Care
1991
as Self - Host & Choir Member
Behind the scenes making of the charity single "Voices That Care".

Women and Men: Stories of Seduction
1990
as Robert
This trio of tales, based on classic short stories, chronicles the complicated relations between the sexes.

Immediate Family
1989
as Michael Spector
Linda and Michael, married for ten years, desperately want a baby and turn to an adoption agency which introduces them to Lucy, a teenage girl expecti...

My Name Is Bill W.
1989
as Bill Wilson
Based on the true story of Bill W. (James Woods), a successful stock broker whose life falls apart after the stock crash of the 20's and how he comes ...

True Believer
1989
as Eddie Dodd
Eddie Dodd is a burnt out former civil rights lawyer who now specializes in defending drug dealers. Roger Baron, newly graduated from law school, has ...
Hollywood on Horses
1989
as Self
Hosted by celebrity horse enthusiast, Tab Hunter, visits the stables and homes of the Hollywood movie set, where you'll see first hand how Hollywood's...

The Boost
1988
as Lenny Brown
Lenny Brown moves to California to find his fortune in tax shelter investments. When the federal government changes the tax laws, poor Lenny finds him...

Crimes of Passion
1988
as Himself - Host
Lives are changed forever by obsession and violence in this Emmy-nominated program that examines the dark and tragic side of love.

Cop
1988
as Lloyd Hopkins
An obsessive, insubordinate homicide cop is convinced a serial killer is loose in the Hollywood area and disobeys orders in order to catch him.

Cop
1988
Producer
An obsessive, insubordinate homicide cop is convinced a serial killer is loose in the Hollywood area and disobeys orders in order to catch him.

Best Seller
1987
as Cleve
Hit man Cleve approaches writer/cop Dennis about a story for his next book: How Cleve made a living, working for one of the most powerful politicians ...

In Love and War
1987
as James B. Stockdale
This movie is an account of US Navy Commander James Stockdale's 8 year imprisonment in North Vietnam. During his confinement in such camps as the infa...

Promise
1986
as DJ
Bob returns home for his mother’s funeral knowing that he must fulfill a promise made 30 years earlier—to care for his younger brother DJ, who is schi...

Salvador
1986
as Richard Boyle
In 1980, an American journalist covering the Salvadoran Civil War becomes entangled with both the leftist guerrilla groups and the right-wing military...

Joshua Then and Now
1985
as Joshua Shapiro
Based on a novel by Mordecai Richler, allegedly his autobiography, it tells the story of a Jewish writer, from his life as a young boy in Montreal to ...

Cat's Eye
1985
as Morrison
Three short stories linked by a stray cat that roams from one tale to the next, in this creepy triptych that begins as Dick tries to quit smoking by a...

Badge of the Assassin
1985
as Robert K. Tanenbaum, Assistant District Attorney
Three black revolutionaries gun down two New York City police officers. The subsequent investigation puts a white assistant DA and a black police dete...

Once Upon a Time in America
1984
as Maximilian 'Max' Bercovicz
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the gh...

Against All Odds
1984
as Jake Wise
She was a beautiful fugitive. Fleeing from corruption. From power. He was a professional athlete past his prime. Hired to find her, he grew to love he...

Videodrome
1983
as Max Renn
As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show de...

The Making of David Cronenberg's Videodrome
1982
as Interviewee
A featurette made in 1982 to promote the new film by David Cronenberg, including interviews with the cast and crew.

Split Image
1982
as Charles Pratt
An impressionable young man finds himself literally enslaved by a modern-day religious cult. In an effort to bring him back to reality, the boy's pare...

Fast-Walking
1982
as Fast-Walking
A dirty corrections officer gets involved in a murder plot involving one of the inmates.

Eyewitness
1981
as Aldo Mercer
NYC custodian Daryll Deever is a big fan of local news reporter Tony Sokolow, so he is intrigued when she shows up to cover a story at his workplace. ...

The Black Marble
1980
as The Fiddler
When alcoholic homicide investigator Valnikov is transferred to a burglary case that seems to involve a creepy dogcatcher, he's also given a new partn...
Young Maverick - Dead Man's Hand
1979
as Len Fraker
Ben Maverick (Charles Frank) inherits the poker hand of a friend who died during a high stakes game.

The Onion Field
1979
as Gregory Powell
An LA police officer is murdered in the onion fields outside of Bakersfield. However, legal loopholes could keep his kidnappers from receiving justice...

...And Your Name Is Jonah
1979
as Danny Corelli
A couple whose son had been institutionalized for three years are shocked to discover that the diagnosis was wrong, and that their son is, in fact, de...

The Incredible Journey of Doctor Meg Laurel
1979
as Sin Eater
A big-city female doctor returns to her roots in the backwoods of the Blue Ridge Mountains to bring modern medicine to the local folks in the Appalach...

The Gift of Love
1978
as Alfred Browning
Inspired by O. Henry's short story about a young bride and groom, each of whom foolishly--but quite lovingly--sacrifices a treasured possession to buy...

The Billion Dollar Bubble
1978
as Art Lewis
The Billion Dollar Bubble is a 1976 film made for the BBC series Horizon and directed by Brian Gibson about the story of the two billion dollar insura...

The Choirboys
1977
as Harold Bloomguard
A group of Los Angeles cops decide to take off some of the pressures of their jobs by engaging in various forms of after-hours debauchery.

Raid on Entebbe
1976
as Capt. Sammy Berg
Based on a true operation by Israeli commandos. An Air France flight is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The airplane la...

The Disappearance of Aimee
1976
as Asst. Dist. Atty. Joseph Ryan
In 1926, celebrated evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson mysteriously disappeared. She turned up several weeks later and recounted the details of her kid...

Alex & the Gypsy
1976
as Crainpool
A bail bondsman falls in love with one of his "customers" — a gypsy girl, who's been accused of attempted murder.

Distance
1975
as Larry Vincent
’Distance’ is an award-winning, independent feature film exploring the distance between men and women through the intertwined stories of two couples. ...

F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood
1975
as Leonard "Lenny" Schoenfeld
The story of author F. Scott Fitzgerald's two stays in Hollywood to write for films, once in 1927 at the height of his acclaim, and again in 1937 when...

Foster & Laurie
1975
as Walter The Addict
The story of two New York City police officers, one white and one black, their ambush and murder by black revolutionaries and the efforts to hunt down...

Night Moves
1975
as Quentin
Private detective and former football player Harry Moseby gets hired on to what seems a standard missing person case - a former Hollywood actress want...

The Gambler
1974
as Bank Officer
New York City English professor Axel Freed outwardly seems like an upstanding citizen. But privately Freed is in the clutches of a severe gambling add...

The Way We Were
1973
as Frankie McVeigh
Opposites attract when, during their college days, Katie Morosky, a politically active Jew, meets Hubbell Gardiner, a feckless WASP. Years later, in t...
A Great American Tragedy
1972
as Rick
A middle-aged aerospace engineer has his whole life changed when he is suddenly laid off from his job. Unable to find work because of his age and a ba...

Hickey & Boggs
1972
as Lt. Wyatt
Two veteran private eyes trigger a criminal reign of terror with their search for a missing girl. | Al Hickey (Cosby) & Frank Boggs (Culp) are two ja...

Footsteps
1972
as Reporter
A football coach is hired by a small college to shape up its football team, and he finds himself in trouble with local gamblers who don't want the tea...

The Visitors
1972
as Bill Schmidt
Bill, Martha and their little child Hal are spending a quiet winter Sunday in their cosy house when they get an unexpected visit from Mike Nickerson a...

All the Way Home
1971
as Andrew Lynch
Jay Follet is suffering a mid-life crisis while his wife, Mary, is expecting their second child. When Jay takes his family to visit his 103-year-old g...