 William Hurt trained at Tufts University and New York’s Juilliard School of Music and Drama. He spent the early years of his career on the stage between drama school, summer stock, regional repertory and off-Broadway—appearing in more than 50 productions including Henry V, 5th of July, Hamlet, Richard II, Hurly Burly (for which he was nominated for a Tony Award), My Life (winning an Obie Award for Best Actor), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Good. Recently, Hurt received his fourth Academy Award® nomination, this time for Best Supporting Actor for his role in David Cronenberg’s acclaimed film A History of Violence, which also starred Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello. In the film, an average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense slaying at his diner. The film was screened at the 2005 Cannes International Film Festival. Also last year at Cannes, Hurt appeared in James Marsh’s controversial film The King, about a troubled man (Gael García Bernal) recently discharged from the Navy who returns to his childhood home in Texas to reunite with his father (Hurt).Hurt was also recently seen in Syriana, directed by Stephen Gaghan and starring George Clooney, Matt Damon and Amanda Peet. Syriana is a geopolitical thriller tackling oil, international politics and the CIA, and it is produced by Steven Soderbergh, Clooney and Michael Nozik. William Hurt recently completed production on the ensemble independent film Neverwas. The film’s impressive cast also includes Sir Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Nick Nolte and Aaron Eckhart. In 2004, Hurt was seen in M. Night Shyamalan’s acclaimed thriller The Village, opposite Joaquin Phoenix and Sigourney Weaver. In the same year, he appeared in The Hallmark Channel’s miniseries Frankenstein, opposite Donald Sutherland. In the same year, Hurt was also seen in the independent film The Blue Butterfly, in which he starred as a famous entomologist who takes a terminally ill boy into the rainforest to grant his dying wish. The film was screened at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival and was released in Canada and Japan.In 2002, William Hurt appeared in Tuck Everlasting, directed by Jay Russell, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. He also starred in the title role of the CBS mini-series Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story and had a cameo appearance in Changing Lanes, starring Samuel L. Jackson. In 2001, Hurt starred in the independent film Rare Birds, which co-starred Molly Parker and was nominated for best film at the Genie Awards, Canada’s equivalent of the Academy Awards®. The film made its debut at the Toronto Film Festival. He was also seen in a supporting role in Steven Spielberg’s Artificial Intelligence: A.I. In the same year, he starred in The Flamingo Rising for CBS, based on the novel by Larry Baker and directed by Martha Coolidge. In the film, Hurt starred opposite Brian Benben and Elizabeth McGovern in the story of an eccentric dreamer who builds the world’s largest drive-in movie theater across the street from a funeral parlor. In April 2001, Hurt starred in Varian’s War for Showtime. Directed by Lionel Chetwynd and produced by Barbra Streisand’s Barwood Films, the film co-starred Alan Arkin, Julia Ormond and Lynn Redgrave. It followed the story of Varian Fry (Hurt), who rescued prominent European artists and more than 2,000 others from Nazi persecution during World War II. In 2000, William Hurt delivered a memorable performance in Sunshine, opposite Ralph Fiennes. Directed by István Szabó, Sunshine received three Genie Awards, including one for Best Motion Picture. In addition, Hurt also appeared in The Simian Line, with Lynn Redgrave and Eric Stoltz, and Dune for the Sci-Fi Channel. In 1980, Hurt appeared in his first film, Altered States. He received a Best Actor Oscar® nomination for Broadcast News and Children of a Lesser God. For Kiss of the Spider Woman, he was honored with an Academy Award® as well as Best Actor Awards from the British Academy and the Cannes Film Festival.Among his other film credits are Body Heat, The Big Chill, Eyewitness, Gorky Park, Alice, I Love You to Death, The Accidental Tourist, The Doctor, The Plague, Trial by Jury, Second Best, Smoke, Confidences à un Inconnu, Jane Eyre, Michael, Dark City, The Proposition, The Big Brass Ring and One True Thing. For radio, William Hurt read Paul Theroux’s The Great Railway Bazaar for the BBC’s Radio Four and Annie Proulx’s Shipping News. He has recorded The Polar Express, The Boy Who Drew Cats and narrated the documentaries, Searching for America: The Odyssey of John Dos Passos, A. Einstein: How I See the World and the English narration of Elie Wiesel’s To Speak the Unspeakable, a documentary directed and produced by Pierre Marmiesse.In 1988, Hurt was awarded the first Spencer Tracy Award from UCLA.
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