Billy Bob Thornton

Throughout the 1970s, Billy Bob Thornton firmly believed that his future destiny lay in rock music. He formed a group called the Tres Hombres, named after ZZ Top's hit album of 1973: he found some small measure of success as a musician, and even succeeded in releasing an album called 'Gunslinger'. In order to make ends meet, he would also work as a roadie for other bands, including a Canadian group called Lighthouse, whilst they toured the United States.

He moved out to LA, where Thornton's interest in acting began to develop, and he enrolled for acting lessons. Thornton had a long, hard struggle to get even a toehold in the movie business: at one stage, movie legend has it that he was so broke, he couldn't afford to eat properly, and lived on a diet of potatoes! Eventually, Thornton's health began to suffer, and he was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with myocarditis: the doctors said that this was a heart condition brought about by malnutrition. Once he had recovered, his acting coach allowed him to carry on studying for free, and he hung out around Hollywood, waiting for his "big break." Thornton's big break was a long time coming - but he finally succeeded in landing a role in the TV movie, "The Man Who Broke 1,000 Chains."

Thornton's film acting career was slowly gathering momentum: he landed small roles in 'Indecent Proposal' and 'Tombstone', as well as Steven Segal’s eco-thriller, 'On Deadly Ground'. In 1993, he'd managed to get a short movie entitled 'Some Folks Call It A Sling Blade' produced: but he wasn’t happy with the finished result, so he re-wrote the story as a full-length film script. The script was bought by a film company called The Shooting Gallery who allowed Thornton to have a great deal of creative input in the production process. Thornton himself appeared in nearly every scene. The movie only cost $1 million to make, but was a massive box-office success, netting revenues of over $65 million.

Thornton was Oscar-nominated as Best Actor for the movie, (which had been re-named Sling Blade, and he won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

He then landed a starring role in "Monster's Ball," where he played a prison warder alongside Halle Berry, who won an Oscar for her performance. In 2002, he also played in "The Badge," and "Waking Up in Reno." He was also a favorite actor with top Hollywood directors, the Coen brothers, taking lead roles in "The Man Who Wasn't There," and "Intolerable Cruelty," with George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Thornton now accepted a string of comedy roles, such as in "Love Actually" and "Bad Santa."

On 7 October 2004, Thornton was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to the acting world.

One of his most recent films, "Mr. Woodcock," is another of the ultra-black comedies that are such a perfect vehicle for his dramatic talents. Since then he has appeared in action thriller "Eagle Eye" and crime thriller "Informers" in 2008. This was followed by a role in "The Smell of Success" in 2009.

In 2010, he starred in "Faster" before voicing Jack in the animated film "Puss in Boots" with Antonio Banderas in 2011. Thornton had a role in "Jayne Mansfield's Car" in 2012 and will next be appearing in "The Baytown Outlaws" and "Red Machine" as of 2013. He is then set to act in 'Three Nights', which will be released in 2014.

In addition to his high-profile movie and scriptwriting career, he even has his own signature clothing line. All in all, it’s pretty good going for a country boy from the backwoods of Arkansas.