William H. Macy
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Biography
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Biography
An astonishing character actor-turned-lead on stage and screen, William H. Macy was at his best when he was humanizing despairing, imperfect people trying to keep their head up while their world disintegrates. Macy was a longtime collaborator of playwright and director David Mamet, originating the role of Bobby in Mamet's famed "American Buffalo" on the Chicago stage in 1975, as well as appearing in Mamet's films throughout his career. Additionally, he was giving memorable performances in several films by another boundary-pushing filmmaker, Paul Thomas Anderson. But of the top names in American independent film, it was the Coen Brothers who brought Macy his ultimate breakout with "Fargo" (1996), in which he gave an unforgettable performance as a car salesman whose very fallible murder plan goes awry. From his Oscar-nominated work in that film, Macy's hangdog persona and his weathered innocence was tapped for character work in big budget Hollywood films like "Pleasantville" (1997) and "Seabiscuit" (2003). His later credentials also opened the door for Macy to write and star in a number of Emmy-nominated television films including "Door to Door" (TNT, 2002), as well as a tour-de-force performance as a no-good, but ultimately kindhearted alcoholic on the dramedy "Shameless" (Showtime, 2011- ), all of which solidified his reputation as a fountain of quality work and an impeccable performer and storyteller.
Born March 13, 1950, Macy was raised first in Atlanta, GA, where his father ran a construction firm, before relocating to Maryland when his father switched to a job in insurance. Macy was a shy kid, and began to crack out of his shell later in high school, culminating in a live musical performance at the annual talent show. Upon graduation in 1968, Macy adopted a hippie lifestyle which interfered with his half-hearted attempt to study veterinary medicine at Bethany College in West Virginia. Macy transferred to Goddard College in Vermont and became involved in the theater program. It was there that he met David Mamet, a recent Goddard grad who returned to teach acting at his alma mater. When Mamet returned to his native Chicago, IL several years later, he took Macy and writer Steven Schachter with him, and the trio founded the St Nicholas Theater. In 1975, they staged Mamet's "American Buffalo" with Macy playing Bobby, the youth who serves as a kind of witless apprentice to two hapless thieves. For the rest of the seventies, the actor honed his craft on stage; his boyish handsomeness leading to typecasting as the callow youth ("dead or weeping by the end of the play") or the boy genius with the solution to the play's central conflict. At the end of the decade, he began to land small screen roles, including in the 1978 NBC miniseries "The Awakening Land," the forgettable sex comedy "Foolin' Around" (1979) and the cult classic, "Somewhere in Time" (1980).
In New York City, Macy found success in off-Broadway shows, including a Mamet-directed "Twelfth Night" (1980-81) and A.R. Gurney's "The Dining Room" (1982). He and Mamet also co-founded the Atlantic Theatre Company, where Macy both acted, directed and eventually taught acting. Mamet used Macy in small roles in his feature film directing debut, "House of Games" (1987), and the following year in "Things Change" (1988), the same year Macy reached Broadway portraying Howie Newsome in the revival of "Our Town." When Macy moved to Los Angeles to pursue a film career, Mamet cast him in his first major screen part as a doomed police detective in "Homicide" (1991). His early years in Hollywood were thereafter marked with roles as a villain, child molester, sleazy lawyer or the good cop gone bad. After starring onstage as a college professor accused of sexual harassment by a female student in Mamet's "Oleanna" (1992), he reprised the role in Mamet's static 1994 film version. Despite fine turns as the uptight vice principal in "Mr. Holland's Opus" (1995) and a recurring role as the forever put-upon hospital chief of staff on "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009) from its first season until 1998, leading film roles eluded the gifted actor.
Finally, in 1996, Macy was cast as a conniving car salesman with an eye on his wife's family money in "Fargo." His battle of wits with Frances McDormand's pregnant police chief earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and, curiously, an Independent Spirit Award win for lead actor. The Coen Brothers' universally acclaimed dark and bloody comedy not only made him a recognizable "movie star," it established the actor's strength in playing frightened, fumbling men on the brink. "I'm completely hooked into the imploding WASP role," he informed The Los Angeles Times in 1998. Macy made his action-adventure debut in 1997 as a gun-toting presidential adviser supporting Harrison Ford in "Air Force One" (1997). That same year also saw him deliver a touching performance as the cuckolded assistant director to a pornographic filmmaker in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights" (1997), not to mention a small role in the political send-up "Wag the Dog" (co-scripted by Mamet). With his hangdog look, Macy was perfectly cast (and gave a poignant portrayal) as the repressed TV father in "Pleasantville" (1997) stuck in a black-and-white world while everyone around him blossomed into Technicolor. He was equally splendid in "A Civil Action" as a harried legal accountant with the thankless job of asking for more money while John Travolta's obsession with one case threatened to bankrupt the practice. He rounded out the year by stepping into Martin Balsam's shoes as private dick Milton Arbogast in Gus Van Sant's unnecessary shot-for-shot color remake of Hitchcock's classic, "Psycho" (1997).
Macy was his usual droll self as the unlikely superhero The Shoveler in the sharply written comedy "Mystery Men" (1999), and was even better when he reunited with Paul Thomas Anderson for "Magnolia" (1999), portraying damaged former "Quiz Kid" Donnie Smith, who has been reduced to a routine job in an electronics store and hopes that pricey dental work will revive his love life. Despite having broken through to high-dollar mainstream films, Macy still made time for more adventurous independent films like "Happy, Texas" (1999), where he played a gay sheriff, and the romantic drama "Panic," which debuted at Sundance in 2000. Macy co-wrote one of his best parts of 1999 - that of a movie critic who turns out to be a philandering, larcenous murderer in TNT's "A Slight Case of Murder," for which the actor earned an Emmy Award for his lead acting. Co-scripted with "Mamet Mafia" mate Schachter, the movie cast him opposite new wife, actress Felicity Huffman. He was able to spend even more time with the missus by taking a recurring role as a ratings expert on her ABC series "Sports Night" during the 1999-2000 season. Back with Mamet for "State and Main" (2000), Macy played a libidinous Hollywood director on location in Vermont. He also acted that year in a London revival of "American Buffalo;" this time taking the larger and older role of Teach.
In 2002, Macy starred in the light-hearted caper comedy "Welcome to Collinwood," directed by the Russo Brothers and scored on television for his portrayal of a man afflicted with cerebral palsy who is determined to become a door-to-door salesman in the TNT movie "Door to Door" (2002), which Macy co-wrote with Schachter, the director. In 2003, Macy took home Emmy awards for his work as both lead actor and co-screenwriter in the real life story, and followed up by adding a welcome dose of comedy to the reverent historical film "Seabiscuit" (2003), the true-life story of the Depression Era racehorse-turned-folk hero, as the fast-talking, rumor-spreading sports announcer "Tick-Tock" McLaughlin. His performance was recognized with a Golden Globe nomination and in a nice bookend for the year, Macy turned in his ultimate "loser" performance in the offbeat film "The Cooler," playing a man so overwhelmingly unlucky he is employed by a Las Vegas casino to spread his infectious misfortune, until a torrid affair with a gorgeous cocktail waitress (Maria Bello) turns his luck around. On television, Macy starred opposite David Arquette in the Showtime telepic "Stealing Sinatra" (2003), and earned an Emmy nomination for playing a not-so-clever culprit who holds Frank Sinatra's son for ransom in the story of a real-life kidnapping case from the 1960s.
He re-teamed with Huffman on the Showtime miniseries "Out of Order" (2003) about the personal lives of married Hollywood screenwriters, and joined his wife and Tom Selleck for the 2004 CBS miniseries "Reversible Errors," a legal potboiler based on the Scott Turow novel. In 2004, Mamet cast Macy in the edgy political thriller "Spartan" in what at first appeared to be a subdued, walk-on role that helped Macy nearly walk away with the entire film. The actor was again at the top of his game in the equally gimmicky and inspired thriller "Cellular" (2004), spinning his world-weary persona into a seemingly routine, by-the-books veteran police officer who dreams of opening a day spa upon retirement, only to prove that the old dog does have a few new tricks when he is drawn into a bizarre kidnapping case. For cable television's TNT, Macy penned and starred in the telepic "The Wool Cap" (TNT, 2004) as the mute superintendent of a ramshackle apartment building who becomes the unwilling guardian of a little girl with an attitude. He earned another Emmy nomination as well as a Golden Globe nomination for his performance before starring in Mamet's film version of his 1982 play "Edmund" (2005), playing a bland businessman who encounters a mysterious fortune teller who sends him on a darkly funny descent into a modern urban hell.
Back on the small screen, Macy earned another Emmy award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for "Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King" (TNT, 2005-06), an anthology series based on a trio of stories penned by the master of horror himself. In one of the following year's most talked about independent films, Macy had a role in "Thank You for Smoking" (2006), as a Vermont senator trying to take down a tobacco lobbyist with a gift for spin. After voicing characters in animated features "Doogal" (2006) and "Everyone's Hero" (2006), Macy joined an all-star cast for the docudrama "Bobby" (2006), director Emilio Estevez's engaging look at the 16 hours prior to Senator Robert F. Kennedy's assassination at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Macy made a surprisingly commercial career choice when he joined John Travolta, Tim Allen, and Martin Lawrence in "Wild Hogs" (2007), a hugely successful comedy about four down-and-out men who embark on a freewheeling, cross-country motorcycle trip in order to prove their manhood. He returned to more artful offerings in 2008, including "He Was a Quiet Man" (2008), a well-received limited release starring Christian Slater as a vengeful office worker and "The Deal," a comedy scripted by Macy and co-starring Macy, Meg Ryan and Jason Ritter in a satire of Hollywood action films. The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, but failed to land distribution and was released on home video in 2008.
Macy lent his voice to the animated fantasy film "Tale of Despereaux" (2008) and returned to the big screen in 2009 in the comedy "The Maiden Heist," playing one of a trio of museum guards who plot to steal the artworks they have grown fond of. He also appeared in the Robert Rodriguez family comedy "Shorts" (2009) as the father of a boy who discovers a magical, wish-granting rock. Following supporting turns in "Maiden Heist" (2009) and "Bart Got a Room" (2009), Macy appeared in the critically maligned live action adaptation of the comic strip "Marmaduke" (2010). He next appeared as an investigator who doubts the innocence of an accused would-be murderer (Ryan Phillippe) defended by a slick attorney (Matthew McConaughey) who operates his business out of his Lincoln Town Car in "The Lincoln Lawyer" (2011). Back on the small screen, Macy delivered an attention-grabbing performance as a dysfunctional father of six and hopeless alcoholic who leaves his children to fend for themselves on the acclaimed series "Shameless" (Showtime, 2011- ), a remake of a British series of the same name that aired on the BBC the previous decade. Always one to choose interesting projects, Macy played an unorthodox priest who advises a nearly 40-year-old man (John Hawkes) who has spent most of his life inside an iron lung to hire a professional sex surrogate (Helen Hunt) so he can lose his virginity in the critically acclaimed drama, "The Sessions" (2012). After contributing a voice to the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki's swan song "The Wind Rises" (2013), Macy made his debut as a feature director with the musical comedy-drama "Rudderless" (2014), starring Billy Crudup as a grieving father who comes across a cache of his musician son's unreleased demos and forms a band to perform the songs. Huffman, pop singer Selena Gomez, and comedian Kate Micucci co-starred.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Director (Special)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Writer (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1971
Appeared in a Washington, DC staging of "Jesus Christ Superstar"
1972
With David Mamet and Steven Schacter, moved to Chicago and co-founded the St. Nicholas Theater
1974
First production at St Nicholas Theater, Mamet's one-act "Squirrels"
1975
Cast as Bobby in Mamet's "American Buffalo"; first produced at The Goodman Theater's second stage
1975
Stage directing debut, "The Poet and the Rent" at St. Nicholas Theater
1976
Debut as a playwright, the children's play "The Adventures of Captain Marbles and His Acting Squad"
1978
Credited as W H Macy in TV miniseries debut "The Awakening Land" (NBC)
1979
Moved to New York City
1979
Off-Broadway debut as director, Mamet's one-act "Shoeshine"
1979
Feature acting debut, "Foolin' Around" (credited as W H Macy)
1980
Off-Broadway acting debut, "The Man in 605"
1982
Landed a recurring role on the NBC soap opera "Another World"
1983
Began teaching at New York University
1983
With Mamet, co-founded the Atlantic Theatre Company in New York City
1985
Performed one season with the Goodman Theatre Company in Chicago; appeared in Mamet's "The Cherry Orchard"
1987
Played a small role as a radio actor in Woody Allen's "Radio Days"
1987
First film with David Mamet, "House of Games"
1988
Played a featured role in Mamet's "Things Changes"
1988
Made Broadway debut playing Howie Newsome in the revival of "Our Town" (credited as W H Macy)
1988
Directed the off-Broadway production of "Boy's Life" at Lincoln Center's Mitzi Newhouse Theater
1988
Made TV directing debut with "Lip Service" (HBO), co-produced by Mamet
1990
Moved to Los Angeles, CA
1991
With Schachter, wrote first of two episodes for the ABC drama "thirtysomething"
1991
Third film teaming with Mamet, "Homicide"
1992
Starred in the New York production of David Mamet's "Oleanna"
1992
Appeared in the TV adaptation of Mamet's "The Water Engine" (TNT), directed by Schachter; shared a scene with then-girlfriend Felicity Huffman
1994
Directed the Los Angeles production of "Oleanna"
1994
Landed a recurring role as chief of staff, Dr. David Morgenstern on NBC's medical drama "ER"; earned an Emmy nomination in 1997
1994
Reprised stage role in film version of "Oleanna"; also directed by Mamet
1995
Played the flat-topped vice principal in "Mr. Holland's Opus"
1995
With Schachter, who also directed, and Jerry Lazarus, co-wrote the HBO thriller "Above Suspicion"; also acted
1996
Featured role as Confederate Colonel Chandler in the TNT miniseries "Andersonville"
1996
Breakthrough screen role, playing the duplicitous car salesman Jerry Lundegaard in the Coen brothers' "Fargo"; earned an Academy Award nomination for Supporting Actor
1996
With Martin Davidson and Schachter, co-wrote the CBS TV-movie "Every Woman's Dream"
1997
Directed the NY stage production "The Joy of Being Somewhere Different"
1997
Landed supporting roles in "Wag the Dog" (co-scripted by Mamet) and Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights"
1998
Co-wrote (with Schacter) and starred in the USA Network drama "The Con"
1998
Portrayed the repressed sitcom father in "Pleasantville"
1998
Cast as private investigator Milton Arbogast in Gus Van Sant's remake of Hitchcock's "Psycho"
1999
Cast as former 'quiz kid' Donnie Smith in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Magnolia"
1999
Co-wrote (with Schacter) the TNT movie "A Slight Case of Murder"; featured wife Huffman; garnered an Emmy nomination
1999
Played a recurring role as a ratings experts on the ABC comedy "Sports Night"; series starred wife Huffman; earned an Emmy nomination
2000
Acted in London revival of Mamet's "American Buffalo," this time in the lead role of Teach
2000
Portrayed a film director who keeps telling his star (Sarah Jessica Parker) to take off her shirt in Mamet's "State and Main"
2001
Cast in the action adventure "Jurassic Park III"
2001
Played leading role of a man mistaken for being Jewish after he buys a new pair of glasses in the film version of Arthur Miller's novel "Focus"
2002
Portrayed Bill Porter, a cerebral palsy Fuller Brush salesman in the TNT biopic "Door to Door"; received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie
2003
Received a a Golden Globe nomination for his role in "Seabiscuit"
2003
Co-starred as a down on his luck gambler in "The Cooler"
2003
Starred in the Showtime movie "Stealing Sinatra," based on trial transcripts and various public documents on the 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr.; received an Emmy nomination for Supporting Actor
2004
Starred as Gigot, a mute who begins a friendship with a recently orphaned nine-year-old girl on TNT's "The Wool Cap"; earned Golden Globe, SAG and Emmy nominations for Best Actor in a Miniseries
2004
Starred in the CBS miniseries opposite his wife Felicity Huffman in Scott Turow's crime thriller "Reversible Errors," also starring Tom Selleck and Monica Potter
2006
Played a writer who trades places with his most famous character in the episode "Umney's Last Case," part of TNT's original miniseries "Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From The Stories Of Stephen King"; earned SAG and Emmy nominations for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Movie
2006
Portrayed anti-smoking senator Ortolan Finistirre in the satirical comedy "Thank You for Smoking" by first time director Jason Reitman
2007
Cast in the comedy-adventure "Wild Hogs" as one of four middle-aged friends who decide to rev up their routine suburban lives with a freewheeling motorcycle trip
2008
Replaced sick star Jeremy Piven in the New York theatre production of Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow"
2008
Voiced the character of Lester in the animated film "The Tale of Despereaux"
2010
Acted opposite Judy Greer and Lee Pace in the live-action film based on the comic strip "Marmaduke"
2011
Starred as an alcoholic father of six on Showtime family drama series "Shameless"
2011
Acted alongside Matthew McConaughey and Marisa Tomei in crime thriller "The Lincoln Lawyer"
2012
Co-starred with Helen Hunt and John Hawkes in Ben Lewin's drama "The Sessions"
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