50 facts about Billy Bob Thornton: won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor

In the 2000s, he achieved further success in starring dramas Monster's Ball, The Man Who Wasn't There, Friday Night Lights, comedies Bandits, Intolerable Cruelty, Bad Santa and actions Eagle Eye and Faster. Learn 50 facts about actor Billy Bob Thornton.

1. Billy Bob Thornton is not only an actor, filmmaker but also a singer-songwriter and drummer.

2. Thornton made his first break with co-writing and starring in the 1992 thriller One False Move and came to international attention after writing, directing, and starring in the independent drama Sling Blade.

3. For Sling Blade he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.

4. He appeared in several major film roles in the 1990s following Sling Blade, including Oliver Stone's neo-noir U Turn, political drama Primary Colors, science fiction disaster Armageddon, which was the highest-grossing film of that year and the crime drama A Simple Plan, which earned him his third Oscar nomination.

5. In the 2000s, he achieved further success in starring dramas Monster's Ball, The Man Who Wasn't There, Friday Night Lights, comedies Bandits, Intolerable Cruelty, Bad Santa and actions Eagle Eye and Faster.

6. In 2014, Thornton starred in the anthology series Fargo and earned a nomination for the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie at the Emmy Awards and won Best Actor in a Miniseries or TV Film at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards.

7. Thornton is cited as an "anti-film star" who approaches his roles like a character actor and rarely accepts roles in blockbusters.

8. He has been vocal about his disrespect for celebrity culture, choosing to keep his life out of the public eye.

9. As an influential actor, Thornton is known for his diversity, wide range, and prolificacy, appearing in at least one film per year nearly every year since 1991.

10. Thornton has written a variety of films, usually set in the Southern United States and mainly co-written with Tom Epperson, including A Family Thing and The Gift.

11. After Sling Blade, he directed several other films, including Daddy and Them, All the Pretty Horses, and Jayne Mansfield's Car.

12. Thornton has received the President's Award from Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, a Special Achievement Award from National Board of Review.

13. He also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

14. He was also nominated for an Emmy Award, four Golden Globes, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.

15. In addition to film work, Thornton began a career as a singer-songwriter.

16. He has released four solo albums and is the vocalist of a blues rock band The Boxmasters.

17. Thornton was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

18. His motehr Virginia Roberta was a psychic.

19. His father William Raymond "Billy Ray" Thornton was a high school history teacher and basketball coach who died when Thornton was eighteen.

20. At seven months of age, Thorton set the Clark County record for heaviest infant, at thirty pounds.

21. He was one of three brothers with Jimmy Don, and John David.

22. Jimmy Don wrote a number of songs, two of which ("Island Avenue" and "Emily") Thornton has recorded on his solo albums.

23. During his childhood, Thornton lived in Alpine, Arkansas and Malvern, Arkansas.

24. He was raised a Methodist, in an extended family in a shack that had neither electricity nor plumbing.

25. He graduated from high school in 1973.

26. A good high school baseball player, he tried out for the Kansas City Royals, but was released after an injury.

27. After a short period laying asphalt for the Arkansas State Transportation Department, he attended Henderson State University to pursue studies in psychology, but dropped out.

28. In the mid-1980s, Thornton settled in Los Angeles to pursue his career as an actor, with future writing partner Tom Epperson.

29. He initially had a difficult time succeeding as an actor, and worked in telemarketing, offshore wind farming, and fast food management between auditioning for acting jobs.

30. He also played drums and sang with South African rock band Jack Hammer.

31. While Thornton worked as a waiter for an industry event, he served film director and screenwriter Billy Wilder.

32. Thornton struck up a conversation with Wilder, who advised Thornton to consider a career as a screenwriter.

33. Thornton's first screen role was in 1980's South of Reno, where he played a small role as a counter man in a restaurant.

34. He also made an appearance as a pawn store clerk in the 1987 Matlock episode "The Photographer".

35. Another one of his early screen roles was as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire.

36. His role as the villain in 1992's One False Move, which he also co-wrote, brought him to the attention of critics.

37. He also had small roles in the 1990s films Indecent Proposal, On Deadly Ground, Bound by Honor, and Tombstone.

38. He went on to write, direct, and star in the 1996 independent film Sling Blade.

39. Thornton played a malicious mall Santa in 2003's Bad Santa, a black comedy that performed well at the box office and established him as a leading comic actor, and in the same year, portrayed a womanizing President of the United States in the British romantic comedy film Love Actually.

40. During the late 1990s, Thornton, who has had a lifelong love for music, began a hobby as a singer-songwriter.

41. He released a roots rock album titled Private Radio in 2001, and three more albums, The Edge of the World, Hobo and Beautiful Door.

42. Thornton was the singer of a blues rock band named Tres Hombres,

43. Thornton recorded a cover of the Johnny Cash classic "Ring of Fire" for the Oxford American magazine's Southern Music CD in 2001.

44. Thornton has been married six times, with the first five marriages ending in divorce.

45. He has four children by three women.

46. In 2000, he married actress Angelina Jolie, with whom he starred in Pushing Tin and who is almost 20 years his junior. They separated in June 2002.

47. Since 2003, Thornton has been in a relationship with makeup effects crew member Connie Angland, with whom he has a daughter, Bella.

48. The family lives in Los Angeles, California.

49. In February 2015, Thornton's representatives confirmed that he and Angland were married on October 22, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.

50. Thornton is a baseball fan, and his favorite team is the St. Louis Cardinals. He has said that his childhood dream was to play for the Cardinals.

Source: Wikipedia.org