Bill Paxton - Biography

Last Editor: Ajoyangel				Bill Paxton Biography -   Name : Bill Paxton Birth Date : 17 May 1955 Birth Place : Fort Worth, Texas, USA Birth Name : William Paxton Height : 5'11 Nationality : American Profession : Actor Claim to fame : as Private Hudson in Aliens (1986)

Bill Paxton Trivia -

Paxton has a cunning plan to bring Sean Connery and Michael Caine together for a romantic comedy called DOUG AND DAVE telling of two painters from Wiltshire who started the crop circle hoax in the Seventies. (June 25, 2003) Bill had rheumatic fever in the 7th grade. It kept him hospitalized for a month and bed-ridden for four months. He had to take regular doses of penicillin until he was 18. As a teen, Bill caddied for golf great Ben Hogan in Fort Worth. He directed the theatrical short FISH HEADS (1982) which won a Special Award at the 1982 Melbourne Film Festival. He co-authored and produced the short SCOOP (1983) which won an Honorable Mention at the 1983 USA. Film Festival. He was a member of the 80s rock band Martini Ranch. James Cameron directed a video for their song Reach featuring many Cameron alumni (Kathryn Bigelow, Lance Henriksen, Jeanette Goldstein). He does not particularly like being recognized as Chet from WEIRD SCIENCE (1985). He came very close to landing the lead role in DARKMAN (1990). In his struggling actor days he was a parking attendant at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He turned down Sam Raimi's THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1995). He nearly landed the lead in THE ROCKETEER (1991). The original title of the script of FRAILTY (2001) before he got involved was GOD'S HANDS. Was originally cast as Stifler's dad in AMERICAN PIE 2 (2001), but had to leave the project due to his schedule. He used the same beer can throughout the entire filming of FRAILTY (2001). A scene with he and Billy Bob Thornton in A SIMPLE PLAN (1998) was lost by Northwest Airlines in January 1998 while in transit from Minnesota to Los Angeles. The missing scene had been shot in Minnesota. The film was insured, and the missing scene was reshot. Before playing in PREDATOR 2 (1990), he previously starred in ALIENS (1986). The skull of one of the aliens appears in the Predator's trophy room. In order to get the background skies looking suitably stormy, the truck cab sequences had to be flooded with high intensity lighting for contrast. As a result, he suffered minor retinal burns through much of the filming of TWISTER (1996). On the final night of shooting in Nova Scotia, one or more pranksters mixed PCP (angel dust) into the clam chowder served to the cast and crew. 80 people were taken ill, many hospitalized with hallucinations. 'Paxton, Bill' felt listless for two weeks after the incident (TITANIC-1997). The scene where he and Helen Hunt drive through a toppled house was shot at Owen Field at the University of Oklahoma campus (TWISTER). The song that plays during the first scene in A SIMPLE PLAN involving Hank and Sarah is Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum. It's the same song that his character in APOLLO 13 (1995), Fred Haise, plays on a floating tape recorder during a live newscast. TOMBSTONE (1993) is the last film to date starring both Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton together. They have appeared in 5 films together, THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE, THE TERMINATOR, ALIENS and NAVY SEALS.

Bill Paxton Detailed Biography -

Born and raised in Fort Worth, Bill Paxton discovered his acting aspirations during high school when he and several friends made their own movies using hand-held cameras and Super 8 film. His parents encouraged his desire to pursue acting, and at the age of eighteen Paxton to move to Los Angeles. There he found work with Roger Corman's New World Pictures, where he worked as a set dresser and eventually won a small role in 1975's "Crazy Mama". Convinced that he would get more work with the benefit of a few acting lessons, Paxton relocated to the East Coast to study acting under famed drama coach Stella Adler, at New York University. Upon completion of his acting tutoring, Bill returned to the West Coast and his career began to take shape, with eleven appearances on the silver screen between 1981 and 1986. Following a string of bit parts in critically lauded films The Lords of Discipline, Streets of Fire, The Terminator, he landed major supporting roles in Weird Science, he appeared as the sadistic, paramilitary brother of the nerdy protagonist; in Aliens, he portrayed a rowdy, gun-toting space marine. Although he continued to take supporting roles in mainstream action flicks, Paxton defied typecasting by simultaneously appearing in offbeat, independent productions: he played a boozy vampire with a weakness for fast cars in Near Dark; he locked lips with a corpse for The Dark Backward; and he wowed the critics with a rare starring role as One False Move's flamboyant hick sheriff, Dale "Hurricane" Dixon. Portraying weirdo’s may well have solidified his reputation as a gifted actor, but it was Paxton's ability to play straight shooters that finally blew his career potential wide open. Offers began pouring in after his earnest turn as astronaut and family man Fred Haise in Apollo 13. Paxton landed a role in Twister that turned out to be one of the biggest money makers in the history of cinema. He most recently starred in the critically acclaimed independent feature "Traveller," in which he also served as producer on the project. Paxton also stared in "Mighty Joe Young," and in HBO's "A Bright Shining Lie," produced in Southeast Asia and the biggest budgeted project for the cable network to date. Aside from his onscreen work, Bill Paxton has also written, directed, and produced two award-winning short films, as well as cutting an album with the rock group Martini Ranch.