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Biography

Bruce Willis was born in an American military base in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, to an American father, David Willis, and a German mother, Marlene Willis. After being discharged from the military in 1957, David took his family back to Penns Grove, New Jersey, and he worked as a welder and factory worker. Bruce was the eldest of four children. He was always an outgoing youngster, although he grew up with a stutter. Finding it easy to express himself on stage, Willis began performing on stage and his high school memberships were marked by such things as the drama club and school council president.

Rather than go to college after graduation, Willis took after his father and became a blue collar worker, transporting work crews at the DuPont Chambers Works factory in Deepwater, New Jersey. He decided to quit after a colleague was killed on the job, and thereafter became a regular at several bars. Willis also discovered an innate knack for playing harmonica, and did so for an R&B group, Loose Goose. After a stint as a bodyguard (which he actually plays in his 1991 movie, The Last Boy Scout), Willis returned to his original passion of acting. He enrolled in the drama program at Montclair State University, where he was cast as Brick in the class production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Jack Prince as Big Daddy, William Applegate as the doctor and Kevin J. Lynch as the Rev. Tooker. The ambitious junior finally decided to leave school in pursuit of more lucrative movie roles by heading for New York City.

Willis returned to the bar scene, only this time for a part-time job and as a way to meet New York celebrities. After countless auditions, Willis finally made his theater debut in the off-Broadway production of Heaven and Earth. He gained more experience and exposure in Fool for Love, a stint on television's Miami Vice, and a Levi's campaign.

He first found fame with his starring role in the hit TV series Moonlighting (1984–89) establishing himself as a comedic actor. However, it was his then-unexpected turn in the Die Hard series that catapulted him to fame. He also was successful in his turn as the voice of little Mikey in the Look Who's Talking series.

In the late-1980s, Willis enjoyed moderate success as a recording artist, recording an album of pop-blues entitled The Return of Bruno, which included the hit single "Respect Yourself", promoted by a Spinal Tap-like rockumentary parody featuring scenes of him performing at famous events including Woodstock. Follow-up recordings were not as successful, though Willis does return to the recording studio from time to time.

In the early 90s, Willis' career suffered a moderate slump starring in flops such as The Bonfire of the Vanities and Hudson Hawk, among others. However, in 1994 he had a supporting role in Quentin Tarantino's acclaimed Pulp Fiction, which gave a new boost to his career. In 1996 he produced the cartoon Bruno the Kid which featured a CGI representation of himself. He went on to play the lead roles in Twelve Monkeys, The Fifth Element. However, by the end of the '90s, his career had fallen into another slump with critically panned films like The Jackal, Mercury Rising and Breakfast of Champions, saved only by the success of the Michael Bay-directed Armageddon which was the highest grossing film of 1998 in the US.

In 1999, Willis achieved what could be considered the biggest success of his career with his starring role in M. Night Shyamalan's debut film, The Sixth Sense. The film was both a commercial and critical success and launched Willis career to a new level of stardom.

He once had to appear in the hit sitcom Friends without pay, because he lost a bet to Matthew Perry, his co-star in The Whole Nine Yards and its sequel The Whole Ten Yards.

Willis also appeared on a Japanese Subaru Legacy television commercial, optimising the car for sale, with the backing music of Jade from Sweetbox, "Addicted" and "Hate Without Frontiers".


––Wikipedia
Filmography
Alpha Dog
Perfect Stranger
16 Blocks
Lucky Number Slevin
Over The Hedge
Hostage
Sin City