Bill Pullman

William Pullman is an American actor. After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater, he was an adjunct professor at Montana State University before deciding to pursue acting.
Pullman made his film debut in Ruthless People, and starred in Spaceballs, The Accidental Tourist and The Serpent and the Rainbow, Newsies, Sleepless in Seattle, Wyatt Earp, Casper, While You Were Sleeping, Independence Day, Lost Highway, and Lake Placid. He also voiced Captain Joseph Korso in Titan A.E. in. He has also appeared frequently on television, usually in TV films. Since the 21st century began, Pullman has also acted in miniseries and regular series such as Torchwood, playing starring roles in 1600 Penn and The Sinner. In 2021, he had a recurring role in the miniseries Halston.
Pullman also has a long stage acting career. He has appeared on Broadway several times, including in Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?.

Early life and education

Pullman was born on December 17, 1953, in Hornell, New York, the son of James Pullman Jr., a physician, and Johanna Wilamina Pullman, a nurse. He is of Dutch, English, and Irish ancestry.
After graduating from Hornell High School in 1971, he attended the State University of New York at Delhi and the State University of New York at Oneonta in the 1970s, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater Studies from the latter in 1975. He eventually received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1980. He taught theater at SUNY Delhi and was an adjunct professor at Montana State University's School of Film and Photography in Bozeman, Montana, where his students persuaded him to pursue film roles.

Career

During the 1980s, Pullman worked primarily with theater companies around New York and Los Angeles. His first prominent film role was in Ruthless People, starring Danny DeVito and Bette Midler. Other notable films included the lead in Spaceballs, The Serpent and the Rainbow , A League of Their Own, Malice, Casper and While You Were Sleeping. In 1996, he played the President of the United States in the sci-fi film Independence Day. A year later he had a major role in Lost Highway and voiced Korso in the animated post-apocalyptic film Titan A.E.
From February 2002 until September 2002, Pullman starred with Mercedes Ruehl in Edward Albee's play The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? on Broadway. It won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play, the 2002 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New Play, and the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Pullman was nominated for the 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play.
He starred as Dr. Richard Massey in the 2005 miniseries Revelations. He appeared in Albee's play Peter and Jerry at off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre in New York for which he received a second Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Play in 2008.
Pullman is also a creative writer. His first play, Expedition 6, is about the International Space Station mission Expedition 6, in orbit at the time the Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed on reentry, grounding the U.S. Space Shuttle program and requiring the ISS crew to remain in orbit an additional two months. The play opened at San Francisco's Magic Theater in September 2007.
He also appeared in the Broadway production of David Mamet's Oleanna, co-starring Julia Stiles. It opened at the John Golden Theatre October 11, 2009, and closed on December 6, 2009, after 65 performances.
He is a jury member for the digital studio Filmaka, a platform for undiscovered filmmakers to show their work to industry professionals.
Pullman played Oswald Danes, a pedophile and child killer, in Torchwood: Miracle Day, the fourth series of the BBC/Starz Entertainment television show Torchwood, the former of which began airing in July 2011. For his performance as Danes, he received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor on Television.
From 2012 to 2013, Pullman portrayed the president of the United States in the television comedy series 1600 Penn. He played detective Harry Ambrose in the USA Network mystery series The Sinner, which premiered in 2017 and has aired for four seasons.
In 2023, Pullman portrayed Alex Murdaugh, a South Carolina attorney convicted of murdering his wife and son. The two-part Lifetime series Murdaugh Murders: The Movie premiered on 14 October. In June 2025, Pullman was announced to reprise the role of Lone Star in the sequel to Spaceballs, which is scheduled for release in 2027, and that he would be co-starring alongside his son Lewis Pullman.

Personal life

Pullman is married to Tamara Hurwitz, a modern dancer. Their three children are actor Lewis Pullman, singer-songwriter Maesa Pullman, and Jack Pullman.
At the age of 21, Pullman suffered a head injury when he fell while rehearsing a play, and lost his sense of smell and the feeling in his left elbow.
Pullman is an avid Buffalo Bills fan. He co-owns a cattle ranch with his brother in Montana, near the town of Whitehall, where he lives part-time. He also serves on the board of trustees at Alfred University and was awarded an honorary doctorate there on May 14, 2011. In 2018, he received an honorary doctorate from Montana State University, where he was formerly employed.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes	-
1986	Ruthless People	Earl Mott		-
1987	Spaceballs	Lone Starr		-
1988	The Serpent and the Rainbow	Dr. Dennis Alan		-
1988	Rocket Gibraltar	Crow Black		-
1988	The Accidental Tourist	Julian Edge		-
1989	Cold Feet	Buck Latham		-
1990	Brain Dead	Dr. Rex Martin		-
1990	Sibling Rivalry	Nicholas Meany		-
1990	Bright Angel	Bob		-
1991	Liebestraum	Paul Kessler		-
1991	Going Under	Biff Banner		-
1992	Nervous Ticks	York Daley		-
1992	Newsies	Bryan Denton		-
1992	A League of Their Own	Bob Hinson		-
1992	Singles	Dr. Jamison		-
1993	Sommersby	Orin Meecham		-
1993	Sleepless in Seattle	Walter Jackson		-
1993	Malice	Andy Safian		-
1993	Mr. Jones	Construction Site Foreman	Uncredited	-
1994	The Favor	Peter Whiting		-
1994	Wyatt Earp	Ed Masterson		-
1994	The Last Seduction	Clay Gregory		-
1995	While You Were Sleeping	Jack Callaghan		-
1995	Casper	Dr. James Harvey		-
1996	Mr. Wrong	Whitman Crawford		-
1996	Independence Day	President Thomas J. Whitmore		-
1997	Lost Highway	Fred Madison		-
1997	The End of Violence	Mike Max		-
1998	Zero Effect	Daryl Zero		-
1999	Lake Placid	Jack Wells		-
1999	Brokedown Palace	Hank "Yankee Hank" Green		-
1999	Spy Games	Harry Howe / Ernie Halliday		-
2000	The Guilty	Callum Crane		-
2000	Titan A.E.	Captain Joseph Korso	Voice	-
2000	Lucky Numbers	Detective Pat Lakewood		-
2000	A Man Is Mostly Water	Parking Fascist		-
2001	Ignition	Conor Gallagher		-
2002	29 Palms	The Ticket Clerk		-
2002	Igby Goes Down	Jason Slocumb		-
2003	Rick	Rick O'Lette		-
2004	The Grudge	Peter Kirk		-
2005	Dear Wendy	Officer Krugsby		-
2006	Scary Movie 4	Henry Hale		-
2006	Alien Autopsy	Morgan Banner		-
2007	Nobel Son	Max Mariner		-
2007	You Kill Me	Dave		-
2008	Surveillance	Sam Hallaway		-
2008	Bottle Shock	Jim Barrett		-
2008	Phoebe in Wonderland	Peter Lichten		-
2008	Your Name Here	William J. Frick		-
2010	Peacock	Edmund French		-
2010	The Killer Inside Me	Billy Bob Walker		-
2010	Rio Sex Comedy	William		-
2011	Bringing Up Bobby	Kent		-
2012	Lola Versus	Lenny		-
2013	The Unbelievers	Himself		-
2014	Red Sky	Captain John Webster		-
2014	Cymbeline	Sicilius Leonatus		-
2014	The Equalizer	Brian Plummer		-
2015	American Ultra	Raymond Krueger		-
2016	Independence Day: Resurgence	Former President Thomas J. Whitmore		-
2016	LBJ	Senator Ralph Yarborough		-
2016	Brother Nature	Jerry Turley		-
2017	Walking Out	Clyde		-
2017	The Ballad of Lefty Brown	"Lefty" Brown		-
2017	Trouble	Ben		-
2017	Battle of the Sexes	Jack Kramer		-
2018	The Equalizer 2	Brian Plummer		-
2019	The Coldest Game	Joshua Mansky		-
2019	Dark Waters	Harry Dietzler		-
2020	The High Note	Max		-
2025	Killing Faith	Preacher Ross		-
2026		Harry Evans Senior	in main competition at 76th Berlin International Film Festival in February	-
2027		Lone Starr	Post-production	-
			Post-production