Biography

Bruce Willis was born on Mar. 19, 1955 in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany, where his father was stationed in the U.S. military. Once his father was discharged from the service, Willis moved to New Jersey with his family, watching his blue-collar father work hard as a welder and factory employee. Willis adopted the same tough, hardworking persona of his dad, even sometimes getting into trouble at school. Still a popular kid with a sense of humor, Willis eventually tapped into his artistic side by getting involved in theater and acting, later enrolling in Montclair State University in New Jersey as a drama major. But Willis had big dreams that couldn’t wait, and he dropped out of college to head to New York City to begin an acting career. While waiting tables and bartending, Willis constantly auditioned for roles, and in time, landed his first acting role in the off-Broadway play Heaven and Earth in 1977. After a few theatrical gigs, Willis transitioned into small parts in films before heading to Hollywood, where he beat out 3,000 other actors for a starring role in Moonlighting—a soon-to-be popular television series with actress Cybill Shepherd. With TV success under his belt, Willis kept his sights on film. He took on the starring role of a lifetime in the 1988 action-packed movie Die Hard as John McClane, a role notably turned down by both Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Die Hard brought in an impressive $81 million at the U.S. box office, and three sequels followed. In 1989, Willis was at the helm of another hit, Look Who’s Talking, as the voice of a precocious, overly observant baby named Mikey. Now a bankable movie star, Willis continued to act in other box office successes, such as Pulp Fiction, Armageddon, and The Sixth Sense. More recently, Willis has sustained his action star status with roles in The Expendables and The Expendables 2.