Biography
Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone. In the mid-1990s, after writing, directing, and starring in the independent film Sling Blade, he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. He appeared in several major film roles following Sling Blade 's success, including 1998's Armag...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties
2024
as Self
Bubbles and his band, The Shitrockers, embark on a European rock tour and earn a spot opening for Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters. However, afte...

Devil's Peak
2023
as Charlie McNeely
In North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains, eighteen-year-old Jacob McNeely is torn between appeasing his meth-dealing kingpin father and leaving the m...

Walk, Don't Run: The Story of The Ventures
2022
The Ventures are the biggest instrumental band in the world. This project was begun almost 10 years ago by Tacoma legends the Peterson brothers - Just...

Immediate Family
2022
If you listen to 1970s pop music, you’ve undoubtedly heard these guys play, but do you know their names? This documentary highlights five talented men...

Help Her Live
2022
Thanks
A short film that documents Frankie Kraft, filmmaker and brother of the star of Richard Linklater’s 2005 remake of “Bad News Bears,” Sammi Kane Kraft,...

The Gray Man
2022
as Fitzroy
When a shadowy CIA agent uncovers damning agency secrets, he's hunted across the globe by a sociopathic rogue operative who's put a bounty on his head...

Hollywood.Con
2021
as Boxmaster
Every hot production company in Los Angeles is in a race to make the next big Mayan movie: hurry quick, sell out your company, and do whatever it take...

Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man
2020
as Self
It took his whole life to live and three full years to film Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man. Filmed in four countries with more than 80 interviews from ...

Picture Show: A Tribute Celebrating John Prine
2020
as Self
A tribute to the life and music of John Prine featuring family and friends sharing memories and songs while raising money for several charitable organ...

The Ventures: Stars on Guitars
2020
Documentary film on the #1 instrumental rock group in the world, The Ventures. The story of their rise to fame in the 1960s right up to now, as they c...

A Million Little Pieces
2019
as Leonard
A young drug-addled writer approaching the bottom of his descent submits to two months of agonizing detox at a treatment center in Minnesota.

Untouchable
2019
as Self (archive footage)
The inside story of the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein reveals how, over decades, he acquired and protected his power even when scandal threatened ...

ZZ Top - That Little Ol' Band from Texas
2019
as Self
The story of how three oddball teenage bluesmen became one of the biggest, most beloved bands on the planet.

Temple of Art
2018
as Self
A documentary that explores what it means to be an artist and why it's important to pursue your passion- even in the face of failure.

London Fields
2018
as Samson Young
Clairvoyant femme fatale, Nicola Six has been living with a dark premonition of her impending death by murder. She begins a tangled love affair with t...

Bad Santa 2
2016
as Willie Soke
Fueled by cheap whiskey, greed and hatred, Willie Soke teams up with his angry little sidekick, Marcus, to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Ev...

The First Boys of Spring
2016
For parts of five decades, the immortals of America's National Pastime trained on baseball diamonds and "boiled out the alcoholic microbes" of winter ...

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
2016
as General Hollanek
In 2002, cable news producer Kim Barker decides to shake up her routine by taking a daring new assignment in Kabul, Afghanistan. Dislodged from her co...

What Doesn’t Kill Me: The Life and Music of Vic Chesnutt
2016
as Self
A documentary about the singer/songwriter Vic Chesnutt

Trailer Park Boys: Drunk, High and Unemployed: Live In Austin
2015
as Self
You thought the boys would actually sober up? Not until after they change the world.

Our Brand Is Crisis
2015
as Pat Candy
Based on the documentary "Our Brand Is Crisis", this feature focuses on the use of American political campaign strategies in South America.

Entourage
2015
as Larsen McCredle
Movie star Vincent Chase, together with his boys, Eric, Turtle and Johnny, are back…and back in business with super agent-turned-studio head Ari Gold....

Into the Grizzly Maze
2015
as Douglass
Two estranged brothers reunite at their childhood home in the Alaskan wild. They set out on a two-day hike and are stalked by an unrelenting grizzly b...

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead
2015
as Self - Actor / Director
A look at the history of the American comedy publication and production company, National Lampoon, from its beginning in the 1970s to 2010, featuring ...

21 Years: Richard Linklater
2014
as Self - Actor
A journey through the professional life of innovative film director Richard Linklater: 21 years creating films, carving his signature in pop culture; ...

The Judge
2014
as Dwight Dickham
A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of mur...

Cut Bank
2014
as Stan Steeley
25-year-old Dwayne McLaren, a former athlete turned auto mechanic, dreams of getting out of tiny Cut Bank, Montana the coldest town in America. But hi...

Sport in America: Our Defining Stories
2013
as Self
Athletes and fans explore the impact of sports on the lives of Americans.

Parkland
2013
as Forrest Sorrels
November 22nd, 1963 was a day that changed the world forever — when young American President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. This f...

Jayne Mansfield's Car
2013
as Skip Caldwell
Alabama; 1969: The death of a clan's estranged wife and mother brings together two very different families. The scars of the past hide differences tha...

Jayne Mansfield's Car
2013
Director, Screenplay
Alabama; 1969: The death of a clan's estranged wife and mother brings together two very different families. The scars of the past hide differences tha...

The Baytown Outlaws
2012
as Carlos
When three redneck brothers agree to help a woman save her son from an abusive father, they become targets on the run from an odd cast of characters.

Basically Frightened: The Musical Madness of Colonel Bruce Hampton
2012
as Self
Why is it that Billy Bob Thornton, Dave Matthews, Peter Buck, Derek Trucks, Phish, Widespread Panic, and Blues Traveler are all huge fans of Colonel B...

Puss in Boots
2011
as Jack (voice)
Long before he even met Shrek, the notorious fighter, lover and outlaw Puss in Boots becomes a hero when he sets off on an adventure with the tough an...

Dislecksia: The Movie
2011
as Self
Dislecksia: The Movie, dyslexic director Harvey Hubbell V and crew explore Hubbell's own experiences about growing up as a dyslexic while also looking...

The Smell of Success
2011
as Patrick
When a tragic accident ends the life of Mr. Rose, the genius behind Rose's Manure Company, the livelihood of its loyal fleet of salesmen threatens to ...

The King of Luck
2011
Director
Billy Bob Thornton's portrait of country outlaw Willie Nelson melds archival photos, concert footage and anecdotes from family, band mates, and pals O...

Nashville Rises
2011
as narration
Nashville Rises is the first documentary film about the city of Nashville, Tennessee's response to the 2010 Tennessee floods. It premiered at the 42nd...
Harry Dean Stanton: Crossing Mulholland
2011
Fellow actors and musicians, film critics, and his Kentucky relatives tell the story of noted character actor Harry Dean Stanton. Kris Kristofferson, ...

Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm
2010
as Self
Starting with the image of a tour bus warming its engine in the stillness of an empty lot, this haunting, personal portrait of music legend Levon Helm...

Faster
2010
as Cop
After 10 years in prison, Driver is now a free man with a single focus - hunting down the people responsible for brutally murdering his brother.

Small Town Saturday Night
2010
Thanks
Just days before Rhett (Chris Pine) is leaving for Nashville to pursue a lifelong dream of being a singer/songwriter, his girlfriend Samantha (Bre Bla...

Levon Helm Ramble At The Ryman
2009
as Self
2008 Concert by Levon Helm at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

The Informers
2008
as William Sloan
A collection of intersecting short stories set in early 1980s Los Angeles, depicts a week in the lives of an assortment of socially alienated, mainly ...

Eagle Eye
2008
as Thomas Morgan
Jerry Shaw and Rachel Holloman are two strangers whose lives are suddenly thrown into turmoil by a mysterious woman they have never met. Threatening t...

VH1 Rock Honors: The Who
2008
as Self
The Who were honored at the 2008 ceremony from the Pauley Pavilion at UCLA instead of the usual Las Vegas Mandalay Bay Events Center. The concert cons...

Mr. Woodcock
2007
as Jasper Woodcock
Taken aback by his mother's wedding announcement, a young man returns home in an effort to stop her from marrying his old high school gym teacher, a m...

Classic Albums: Frank Zappa - Apostrophe (') Over-Nite Sensation
2007
as Self
This episode focuses on Zappa's early 70s albums, Overnight Sensation (1973) and Apostrophy (') (1974). Together they encapsulate Zappa's extraordinar...

The Astronaut Farmer
2007
as Charles Farmer
Texan Charles Farmer left the Air Force as a young man to save the family ranch when his dad died. Like most American ranchers, he owes his bank. Unli...

2006 St. Louis Cardinals: The Official World Series Film
2006
as Narrator
St. Louis Cardinals Championship Season.
NFL: Favre 4 Ever
2006
as Voice
Join narrator, Billy Bob Thornton, in taking a revealing look back at the life and legacy of the eight-time Pro Bowl quarterback.

School for Scoundrels
2006
as Dr. P
In the hope of winning the woman of his dreams, Amanda, lovelorn meter-reader Roger Wadell enrolls in a secret confidence-building class. The course's...

The Ice Harvest
2005
as Vic
A shady lawyer attempts a Christmas Eve crime, hoping to swindle the local mob out of some money. But his partner, a strip club owner, might have diff...

Bad News Bears
2005
as Morris Buttermaker
Morris Buttermaker is a burned-out minor league baseball player who loves to drink and can't keep his hands to himself. His long-suffering lawyer arra...

Mr. Thornton Goes to Hollywood
2005
as Self
A 14-part documentary that explores the life and career of Billy Bob Thornton, chronicling his journey that led him to work on Sling Blade. The piece ...

Friday Night Lights
2004
as Coach Gary Gaines
A small, turbulent town in Texas obsesses over their high school football team to an unhealthy degree. When the star tailback, Boobie Miles, is seriou...

Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
2004
as Other Voices (voice)
The story of Jack Johnson, the first African American Heavyweight boxing champion.

Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade
2004
as Self
An account of the life and work of American film director Sam Peckinpah (1925-84), a tortured artist whose genius and inner demons changed the Western...

The Alamo
2004
as Davy Crockett
Based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna's forces at th...

Chrystal
2004
as Joe
Many years after a devastating accident that took the life of his only son and permanently injured his wife, Joe finally comes home and tries to redee...

Bad Santa
2003
as Willie
You'd better watch out - Santa Claus Willie T. Soke is coming to town, and he doesn't care if you've been naughty or nice. Wille's favorite holiday tr...

Love Actually
2003
as The US President
Eight very different couples deal with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in Londo...

Intolerable Cruelty
2003
as Howard D. Doyle
A revenge-seeking gold digger marries a womanizing Beverly Hills lawyer with the intention of making a killing in the divorce.

(Inside Out): Warren Zevon
2003
as Narrator
This documentary follows singer-songwriter Warren Zevon through his struggle with the cancer that would later kill him in 2003. Despite his debilitati...

Levity
2003
as Manuel Jordan
Manuel Jordan is a man who is free after serving 23 years for killing a teenager during an attempted robbery. After nearly two decades of staring at h...

Waking Up in Reno
2002
as Lonnie Earl Dodd
Candy and Lonnie Earl are just crazy about each other. The problem: she's married to Roy and he's married to Darlene. So far it's been a secret affair...

The Badge
2002
as Sheriff Darl
A sheriff begins an investigation into the death of a local transsexual after hearing that high ranking politicians may have been involved. Although h...
Making " The Man Who Wasn't There"
2002
as Self
Making of "The Man Who Wasn't There".

The Man Who Wasn't There
2001
as Ed Crane
A tale of murder, crime and punishment set in the summer of 1949. Ed Crane, a barber in a small California town, is dissatisfied with his life, but hi...

Daddy and Them
2001
as Claude Montgomery
Ruby and her husband Claude are a working-class couple who live in suburban Arkansas. As crazy as they are for each other, their relationship is far f...

Daddy and Them
2001
Director, Writer
Ruby and her husband Claude are a working-class couple who live in suburban Arkansas. As crazy as they are for each other, their relationship is far f...

Bandits
2001
as Terry Lee Collins
After escaping from prison, Joe and Terry go on a crime spree, robbing banks through Oregon and California in order to finance their scheme for a new ...

Monster's Ball
2001
as Hank Grotowski
A prison guard begins a tentative romance with the unsuspecting widow of a man whose execution he presided over.

Camouflage
2001
Story, Screenplay
Marty Mackenzie is an unsuccessful stage actor who takes an interest in private investigating. He takes a job working with Jack Potter, a crusty priva...

All the Pretty Horses
2000
Director, Producer
The year is 1949. A young Texan named John Grady finds himself without a home after his mother sells the ranch where he has spent his entire life. Lur...

CatDog and the Great Parent Mystery
2000
as Hound Dog McDog / CatDog's Step-father (voice)
CatDog are on a quest to find their parents.

The Last Real Cowboys
2000
as Tar
Around the classic 1800's Western campfire, Slope and Tar tangle about what's been, what will be, and who may or may not survive the first New Age cha...

The Last Real Cowboys
2000
Story
Around the classic 1800's Western campfire, Slope and Tar tangle about what's been, what will be, and who may or may not survive the first New Age cha...

Arista Records' 25th Anniversary Celebration
2000
as Self
Arista's greatest recording artists of the last 25 years gather for this May 15th concert in honor of the record label's 25th anniversary. The highly ...

The Gift
2000
Screenplay
Annie Wilson, young widow and mother of three, makes her living foretelling others' futures—though her own has become cloudier than even she can see....

South of Heaven, West of Hell
2000
as Brig. Smalls
Valentine Casey is a Marshal in the desolate Tucson territory of the early 1900s. On Christmas Eve, his outlaw family pays him a disturbing visit. He ...

Pushing Tin
1999
as Russell Bell
Two air traffic controllers who thrive on living dangerously compete to outdo each other on several levels.

A Simple Plan
1998
as Jacob Mitchell
Captivated by the lure of sudden wealth, the quiet rural lives of two brothers erupt into conflicts of greed, paranoia and distrust when over $4 milli...

Armageddon
1998
as Dan Truman
When an asteroid threatens to collide with Earth, NASA honcho Dan Truman determines the only way to stop it is to drill into its surface and detonate ...

Homegrown
1998
as Jack Marsden
Three laborers on a Northern California marijuana plantation become increasingly paranoid when they learn that their boss has been murdered. They know...

Primary Colors
1998
as Richard Jemmons
In this adaptation of the best-selling roman à clef about Bill Clinton's 1992 run for the White House, the young and gifted Henry Burton is tapped to ...

An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn
1998
as Self
Filmmaker Alan Smithee finds himself the unwilling puppet of a potentially bad big budget action film, for which he proceeds to steal the reels, and l...

The Apostle
1997
as Troublemaker
After his happy life spins out of control, a preacher from Texas changes his name, goes to Louisiana and starts preaching on the radio.

U Turn
1997
as Darrell
When a desperate man’s car breaks down in a bizarre desert town while evading vengeful bookies, he becomes entangled in a dangerous love triangle. Cau...

A Gun, a Car, a Blonde
1997
as Syd / Monk
In this homage to film noir, a wheelchair bound (Jim Metzler) paraplegic fantasizes about the new blonde (Andrea Thompson), who moves into the house a...

The Winner
1996
as Jack
A long lucky streak makes a nice guy the target of opportunists like his brother, his girlfriend, and some guys from New Jersey.

Sling Blade
1996
as Karl Childers
Karl Childers, a mentally disabled man, has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 for killing his mother and her lover....

Sling Blade
1996
Director, Screenplay, Theatre Play
Karl Childers, a mentally disabled man, has been in the custody of the state mental hospital since the age of 12 for killing his mother and her lover....

Don't Look Back
1996
as Marshall
Los Angeles heroin addict Jesse endangers the lives of his childhood friends after he discovers a briefcase full of money from a drug deal gone bad, a...

Don't Look Back
1996
Writer, Story
Los Angeles heroin addict Jesse endangers the lives of his childhood friends after he discovers a briefcase full of money from a drug deal gone bad, a...

A Family Thing
1996
Writer
Earl Pilcher Jr. runs an equipment rental outfit in Arkansas, lives with his wife and kids and parents, and rarely takes off his gimme cap. His mother...

Dead Man
1995
as Big George Drakoulious
William Blake, an accountant turned fugitive, is on the run. During his travels, he meets a Native American man called Nobody, who guides him on a jou...

Out There
1995
as Jailbird
A Pulitzer Prize winning photographer is fired from his job for not being sensationalistic enough. After he purchases an old camera at a yard sale, he...

The Stars Fell on Henrietta
1995
as Roy
The setting is early America during the oil boom. An elderly, down on his luck 'oil man', Mr. Cox finds himself in the town of Henrietta. Using unconv...

Floundering
1994
as Gun Clerk
John Boyz lives close to where they film "Baywatch", but you'd never know it. His life is full of bizarre friends, sweaty sex, pistol wielding gangste...

Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade
1994
as Karl Childers
25 years after committing a double murder, Karl Childers is going to be released from an institution for the criminally insane. A local reporter comes...

Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade
1994
Writer
25 years after committing a double murder, Karl Childers is going to be released from an institution for the criminally insane. A local reporter comes...

On Deadly Ground
1994
as Homer Carlton
Forrest Taft is an environmental agent who works for the Aegis Oil Company in Alaska. Aegis Oil's corrupt CEO is the kind of person who doesn't care w...

Tombstone
1993
as Johnny Tyler
Legendary marshal Wyatt Earp, now a weary gunfighter, joins his brothers Morgan and Virgil to pursue their collective fortune in the thriving mining t...

Indecent Proposal
1993
as Day Tripper
John Gage offers a down-on-his-luck yuppie husband $1 million for the opportunity to spend the night with the man's wife.

Grey Knight
1993
as Langston
During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers accidentally free an evil voodoo entity brought back by slave traders. The entity possesses the dead bodies...

Bound by Honor
1993
as Lightning
Based on the true life experiences of poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, the film focuses on half-brothers Paco and Cruz, and their bi-racial cousin Miklo. It ...
Living and Working in Space: The Countdown Has Begun
1993
as Rowdy Udall
Life in space. Beam-ins. Intergalactic war. What about getting a driver's license or doing the laundry? This one-hour special features dozens of space...

Trouble Bound
1993
as Coldface
Upon getting out of prison, a man who took the rap for some thief buddies gets together with them again, and tells them he's not interested in doing t...

For the Boys
1991
as Marine Sergeant, Korea
Talented USO entertainer Dixie Leonard and comedian Eddie Sparks deal with their relationship over the course of 5 decades from World War II to the Vi...

One False Move
1991
as Ray Malcolm
Following a series of drug deals and murders, three criminals -- Fantasia, Ray Malcolm and Pluto -- travel from Los Angeles to Houston, finally arrivi...

One False Move
1991
Writer
Following a series of drug deals and murders, three criminals -- Fantasia, Ray Malcolm and Pluto -- travel from Los Angeles to Houston, finally arrivi...

The Dark Backward
1991
as Patron at Sloppy's
A man pursues stand-up comedy encouraged by his fellow garbage man. Though his friend, who accompanies him on accordion, continues to tell him how gre...

Going Overboard
1989
as Dave
Shecky Moskowitz is the zany cocktail waiter on this pleasure cruise with stunningly gorgeous beauty queens. Since the ship's comedian, Dickie Diamond...

Chopper Chicks in Zombietown
1989
as Tommy
Riding around on their motorbikes, a gang of tough women bikers are the only thing that stands between a crowd of zombies, which have been accidentall...

South of Reno
1988
as Counterman
In a drab desert town, some 200 miles south of Reno, an indecisive man with an unfaithful wife dreams of someday, someday, taking charge of his drifti...

Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night
1988
as Self - Audience Member
Recorded live at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, Roy is joined by an eclectic ensemble of rock and roll superstars including Jackson Browne, Elvis C...

Hunter's Blood
1986
as Billy Bob
Five "city boys" travel to the country to relax by doing some hunting, drinking Bud, and generally having good time. However, the local inbred backwoo...