Bill Pullman

Bill Pullman
Pullman in 2014
Born	William Pullman (1953-12-17) December 17, 1953 (age 71) Hornell, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	SUNY Delhi (attended) SUNY Oneonta (BA, 1975) University of Massachusetts Amherst (MFA, 1980)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1986–present
Spouse	Tamara Hurwitz
Children	3; including Lewis

William Pullman (born December 17, 1953) is an American actor. After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater, he was an adjunct professor at Montana State University before deciding to pursue acting.

Pullman made his film debut in Ruthless People (1986), and starred in Spaceballs (1987), The Accidental Tourist and The Serpent and the Rainbow (both 1988), Newsies (1992), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Wyatt Earp (1994), While You Were Sleeping (1995), Independence Day (1996), Lost Highway (1997), and Lake Placid (1998). He also voiced as Captain Joseph Korso in Titan A.E. in (2000). He has also appeared frequently on television, usually in TV films. Since the 21st century began in 2001, Pullman also acted in miniseries and regular series, such as Torchwood (2011), starring roles in 1600 Penn (2012–13) and The Sinner (2017–2021). In 2021, he had a recurring role in the miniseries Halston.

Pullman also has a long stage acting career. He has appeared on Broadway several times, including in Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (2002).

Early life and education

Pullman was born December 17, 1953, in Hornell, New York, the son of James Pullman Jr. (1914–1992), a physician, and Johanna Wilamina Pullman (née Blaas; 1911–1993), a nurse.^[1]

After graduating from Hornell High School in 1971, he attended the State University of New York at Delhi (SUNY Delhi)^[2] and the State University of New York at Oneonta (SUNY Oneonta) in the 1970s, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater Studies from the latter in 1975. He eventually received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1980. He taught theater at SUNY Delhi^[2] and was an adjunct professor at Montana State University's School of Film and Photography in Bozeman, Montana, where his students persuaded him to pursue film roles.^[3]

Career

During the 1980s, Pullman worked primarily with theater companies around New York and Los Angeles. His first prominent film role was in Ruthless People, starring Danny DeVito and Bette Midler. Other notable films included the lead in Spaceballs (1987), The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) (with Zakes Mokae), A League of Their Own (1992), Malice (1993), Casper and While You Were Sleeping (both 1995). In 1996, he played the President of the United States in the sci-fi film Independence Day. A year later he had a major role in Lost Highway (1997) and voiced Korso in the animated post-apocalyptic film Titan A.E.

From February 2002 until September 2002, Pullman starred with Mercedes Ruehl in Edward Albee's play The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? on Broadway. It won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play, the 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play, and the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Pullman was nominated for the 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Play.

He starred as Dr. Richard Massey in the miniseries Revelations and in Albee's play Peter and Jerry at off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre in New York for which he received a second Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play in 2008.

Pullman is also a creative writer. His first play, Expedition 6, is about the International Space Station mission Expedition 6, in orbit at the time the Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed on reentry, grounding the U.S. Space Shuttle program and requiring the ISS crew to remain in orbit an additional two months. The play opened at San Francisco's Magic Theater in September 2007.^[4]

He also appeared in the Broadway production of David Mamet's Oleanna, co-starring Julia Stiles.^[5] It opened at the John Golden Theatre October 11, 2009, and closed on December 6, 2009, after 65 performances.^[6]

He is a jury member for the digital studio Filmaka, a platform for undiscovered filmmakers to show their work to industry professionals.^[7]

Pullman played Oswald Danes, a pedophile and child killer, in Torchwood: Miracle Day, the fourth series of the BBC/Starz Entertainment television show Torchwood (a spinoff to the BBC series Doctor Who),^[8] the former of which began airing in July 2011. For his performance as Danes, he received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor on Television.^[9]

From 2012 to 2013, Pullman portrayed the president of the United States in the television comedy series 1600 Penn. He played detective Harry Ambrose in the USA Network mystery series The Sinner, which premiered in 2017 and has aired for four seasons.

In 2023 Pullman portrayed Alex Murdaugh, a South Carolina attorney convicted of murdering his wife and son. The two-part Lifetime series Murdaugh Murders: The Movie premiered on 14 October.^[10][11]

Personal life

Pullman is married to Tamara Hurwitz, a modern dancer.^[12][13][14] Their three children are actor Lewis Pullman,^[15] singer-songwriter Maesa Pullman,^[16] and Jack Pullman.^[17][18]

At the age of 21, Pullman suffered a head injury when he fell while rehearsing a play, and lost his sense of smell and the feeling in his left elbow.^[19] He is an avid Buffalo Bills fan. He co-owns a cattle ranch with his brother in Montana, near the town of Whitehall, where he lives part-time.^[20] He also serves on the board of trustees at Alfred University^[21] and was awarded an honorary doctorate there on May 14, 2011.^[12] In 2018, he received an honorary doctorate from Montana State University, where he was formerly employed.^[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1986	Ruthless People	Earl Mott
1987	Spaceballs	Lone Starr
1988	The Serpent and the Rainbow	Dr. Dennis Alan
	Rocket Gibraltar	Crow Black
	The Accidental Tourist	Julian Edge
1989	Cold Feet	Buck Latham
1990	Brain Dead	Dr. Rex Martin
	Sibling Rivalry	Nicholas Meany
	Bright Angel	Bob
1991	Liebestraum	Paul Kessler
	Going Under	Biff Banner
1992	Nervous Ticks	York Daley
	Newsies	Bryan Denton
	A League of Their Own	Bob Hinson
	Singles	Dr. Jamison
1993	Sommersby	Orin Meecham
	Sleepless in Seattle	Walter Jackson
	Malice	Andy Safian
	Mr. Jones	Construction Site Foreman	Uncredited
1994	The Favor	Peter Whiting
	Wyatt Earp	Ed Masterson
	The Last Seduction	Clay Gregory
1995	While You Were Sleeping	Jack Callaghan
	Casper	Dr. James Harvey
1996	Mr. Wrong	Whitman Crawford
	Independence Day	President Thomas J. Whitmore
1997	Lost Highway	Fred Madison
	The End of Violence	Mike Max
1998	Zero Effect	Daryl Zero
1999	Lake Placid	Jack Wells
	Brokedown Palace	Hank "Yankee Hank" Green
	Spy Games	Harry Howe / Ernie Halliday
2000	The Guilty	Callum Crane
	Titan A.E.	Captain Joseph Korso	Voice
	Lucky Numbers	Detective Pat Lakewood
	A Man Is Mostly Water	Parking Fascist
2001	Ignition	Conor Gallagher
2002	29 Palms	The Ticket Clerk
	Igby Goes Down	Jason Slocumb
2003	Rick	Rick O'Lette
2004	The Grudge	Peter Kirk
2005	Dear Wendy	Officer Krugsby
2006	Scary Movie 4	Henry Hale
	Alien Autopsy	Morgan Banner
2007	Nobel Son	Max Mariner
	You Kill Me	Dave
2008	Surveillance	Sam Hallaway
	Bottle Shock	Jim Barrett
	Phoebe in Wonderland	Peter Lichten
	Your Name Here	William J. Frick
2010	Peacock	Edmund French
	The Killer Inside Me	Billy Bob Walker
	Rio Sex Comedy	William
2011	Bringing Up Bobby	Kent
2012	Lola Versus	Lenny
2013	The Unbelievers	Himself
2014	Red Sky	Captain John Webster
	Cymbeline	Sicilius Leonatus
	The Equalizer	Brian Plummer
2015	American Ultra	Raymond Krueger
2016	Independence Day: Resurgence	Former President Thomas J. Whitmore
	LBJ	Senator Ralph Yarborough
	Brother Nature	Jerry Turley
2017	Walking Out	Clyde
	The Ballad of Lefty Brown	"Lefty" Brown
	Trouble	Ben
	Battle of the Sexes	Jack Kramer
2018	The Equalizer 2	Brian Plummer
2019	The Coldest Game	Joshua Mansky
	Dark Waters	Harry Dietzler
2020	The High Note	Max

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Cagney & Lacey	Dr. Giordano	Episode: "A Safe Place"
1989	Home Fires Burning	Henry Tibbets	Movie
1990	The Tracey Ullman Show	Sheldon Moss	Episode: "The Word"
1992	Crazy in Love	Nick Symonds	Movie
1995	Fallen Angels	Rich Thurber	Episode: "Tomorrow I Die"
1996	Mistrial	Steve Donohue	Movie
1997	Merry Christmas, George Bailey	George Bailey
2000	The Virginian	The Virginian	Movie; Also Producer/Director
2001	Night Visions	Major Ben Darnell	Episode: "A View Through the Window"
2004	Tiger Cruise	Commander Gary Dolan	Movie
2005	Revelations	Richard Massey	6 episodes
2008	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Kurt Moss	Episode: "Closet"
2010	Nathan vs. Nature	Arthur	Movie
2011	Too Big to Fail	Jamie Dimon
	Innocent	Rusty Sabich
	Torchwood: Miracle Day	Oswald Danes	8 episodes
2012–2013	1600 Penn	President Dale Gilchrist	13 episodes
2017–2021	The Sinner	Detective Harry Ambrose	Main cast; 32 episodes
2021	Halston	David J. Mahoney	3 episodes
2023	This Fool	Curtis	Episode: "The Bigger Man"[22]
	Murdaugh Murders: The Movie	Alex Murdaugh	2 episodes
TBA	The Boroughs		Filming[23]

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Theatre
2002	The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?	Martin	John Golden Theatre
2009	Oleanna	John
2012	The Other Place	Ian	Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
2015	The Jacksonian	Fred Weber	Theatre Three at Theatre Row
2019	All My Sons	Joe Keller	Old Vic Theatre[24]
2022	Mad House	Daniel	Ambassadors Theatre

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Nominated work	Category	Result
1997	Online Film & Television Association	Independence Day	Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Actor	Nominated
2001	Western Heritage Awards	The Virginian	Television Feature Film	Won
2008	CineVegas International Film Festival	Your Name Here	Special Jury Prize	Won
	Denver International Film Festival	Himself	John Cassavetes Award	Won
	RiverRun International Film Festival	Himself	Master of Cinema	Won
2012	Saturn Awards	Torchwood: Miracle Day	Best Supporting Actor on Television	Nominated
2016	CinemaCon Award	Independence Day: Resurgence	Ensemble of the Universe	Won
	Locarno International Film Festival	Himself	Excellence Award	Won
2017	Woodstock Film Festival	Himself	Excellence in Acting Award	Won
2018	Critics' Choice Television Awards	The Sinner	Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries	Nominated
2019	Screen Actors Guild Awards		Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series	Nominated
	Saturn Awards		Best Actor on Television	Nominated

References

1. WTF with Marc Maron episode 1283
2. "SUNY Delhi History: 1977 Bill Pullman Makes Directorial Debut". State University of New York, Delhi. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
3. Cantrell, Anne (May 1, 2018). "Actor Bill Pullman to receive MSU honorary doctorate". Montana State University. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
4. Bill Pullman's theatrical space odyssey, www.collectspace.com, September 20, 2007
5. Pullman and Stiles Will Star in Mamet's Oleanna on Broadway, Opening Oct. 11 Archived July 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Playbill.com, June 30, 2009
6. "Oleanna | Playbill Vault" Archived 2012-03-18 at the Wayback Machine, PlaybillVault.com
7. "Profile Jury". Filmaka. Archived from the original on August 1, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-08.
8. Ausiello, Michael (December 15, 2010). "Bill Pullman Joins 'Torchwood' as Regular". Deadline. Archived from the original on 16 December 2010. Retrieved December 16, 2010.
9. Goldberg, Matt (29 February 2012). "Saturn Award Nominations Announced; HUGO and HARRY POTTER Lead with 10 Nominations Each". Collider. Archived from the original on 15 November 2013. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
10. Eley, Amy (September 6, 2023). "See Bill Pullman's transformation into Alex Murdaugh for new Lifetime movie". The Today Show. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
11. "Bill Pullman to Play Alex Murdaugh in Lifetime's 500th Original Movie". Variety. 6 September 2023.
12. "Bill Pullman to address Alfred University graduates" (press release). Alfred University. April 28, 2011. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
13. Biography Archived 2020-03-21 at the Wayback Machine. BillPullman.org.
14. "Bill Pullman Talks His Actor Son". Archived from the original on 2018-03-13. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
15. "Lewis Pullman". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
16. "Maesa Pullman". IMDb. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
17. "Fikk utsatt "Independence Day 2" for å spille Othello i Bergen". 25 August 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
18. Nå har jeg ryddet plass til Bergen Archived 2014-12-25 at the Wayback Machine. November 18, 2014.
19. "A Minute With: Bill Pullman about 'Torchwood'". Reuters. 6 July 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
20. Associated Press (October 20, 2002). Entertainment: "Yeltsin visits Armenian brandy distillery". Via Amarillo Globe-News.
21. "Board Members". Alfred University. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
22. "Bill Pullman.org". www.billpullman.org. Retrieved 2023-08-25.
23. Gomez, Dessi (September 23, 2024). "Everything We Know About 'The Boroughs' So Far". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
24. Mitchell, Robert (August 17, 2018). "Sally Field, Bill Pullman Set London Stage Debuts in 'All My Sons'".

External links

• Bill Pullman at IMDb
• Bill Pullman at FEARnet