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Bruce Willis biography

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Quick Facts

  • NAME: Bruce Willis
  • OCCUPATION: Film Actor, Theater Actor, Television Actor
  • BIRTH DATE: March 19, 1955 (Age: 58)
  • EDUCATION: Montclair State University in New Jersey
  • PLACE OF BIRTH: Idar-Oberstein, Germany
  • Full Name: Walter Bruce Willison
  • AKA: Bruce Willis
  • AKA: Walter Willison
  • Nickname: "Bruno"
  • ZODIAC SIGN: Pisces

Best Known For

Bruce Willis first made a splash on TV in Moonlighting, costarring Cybill Shepherd, but his fame really grew with films such as Die Hard, The Sixth Sense and The Expendables.


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Other, less memorable projects soon followed.

Recent Films

Then, in 1994, Willis experienced a comeback of sorts when he took on the role of the weathered but still tough boxer, Butch Coolidge, in the Quentin Tarantino-directed smash hit, Pulp Fiction. Perhaps sensing the film was going to do well, Willis agreed to take a modest salary ($1,685 a week) in return for a share of the profits. The film went on to gross more than $100 million.

From there a steady run of hits followed, from a third installment of the Die Hard series (Die Hard: With a Vengeance) in 1995, to the 1998 sci-fi action thriller, Armageddon. In 1999, Willis came through with one of his more memorable roles as child psychologist Dr. Malcolm Crowe in the M. Night Shyamalan film, The Sixth Sense. Along the way, Willis kept busy with more comedy (The Whole Nine Yards) and a bevy of television appearances (Ally McBeal, Mad About You and Friends).

In 2010, Willis starred, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Sylvester Stallone, in The Expendables. In August 2012, he reunited with the film's cast to star in a follow-up film, The Expendables 2. Within just one week, the movie had climbed to the No. 1 spot at the box office, bringing in nearly $28.6 million.

In recent years, Willis has shown no signs of slowing down, demonstrating a range that mixes muscular intimidation (Sin City, Live Free or Die Hard) with sharp comedic timing (The Whole Ten Yards) that few actors can claim.

"It's not just that he's so incredibly cool—it's that he makes you feel like you're cool too," crowed one film critic in 2007. "He is the bouncer who listens to you and smiles as he's tossing you from the bar."

Personal Life

On March 21, 2009, Willis, who remains close to Moore (he attended her wedding to Ashton Kutcher in 2005) and shares custody of his three children with her, back-tracked on his pledge never to marry again, when he wed model-actress, Emma Heming at Willis's home on the Turks and Caicos Islands, in the West Indies.

"I lasted one date," he cracked to a reporter around the time of the wedding. "I went from 'F--- love' to 'Love is truly the answer.'"

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