Bill Paxton - Biography

Bill Paxton was born William Paxton on May 17, 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas. He is the son of Mary Lou (Gray) and John Lane Paxton, a businessman and actor (as John Paxton). Bill moved to Los Angeles, California at age 18, where he found work in the film industry as a set dresser for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. He made his film debut in the Corman film Crazy Mama (1975), directed by Jonathan Demme. Moving to New York, Paxton studied acting under Stella Adler at New York University. After landing a small role in Les bleus (1981), he found steady work in low-budget films and television. He also directed, wrote and produced award-winning short films including Fish Heads (1980), which aired on Saturday Night Live (1975). His first appearance in a James Cameron film was a small role in Terminator (1984), followed by his very memorable performance as Private Hudson in Aliens - Le retour (1986) and as the nomadic vampire Severen in Kathryn Bigelow's Aux frontières de l'aube (1987). Bill also appeared in John Hughes' Une créature de rêve (1985), as Wyatt Donnelly's sadistic older brother Chet. Although he continued to work steadily in film and television, his big break did not come until his lead role in the critically acclaimed film-noir Un faux mouvement (1992). This quickly led to strong supporting roles as Wyatt Earp's naive younger brother Morgan in Tombstone (1993) and as Fred Haise, one of the three astronauts, in Apollo 13 (1995), as well as in James Cameron's offering True Lies - Le caméléon (1994).