Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis was born on 19 March 1955 in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany, although he was brought up in New Jersey.
Before getting into acting, Bruce Willis worked as a security guard and had a job driving a truck at a chemical plant, which he left when an explosion killed a co-worker.
Bruce Willis attended Montclair State College and made his off-Broadway debut in Heaven and Earth (1977).
Bruce Willis continued to audition for roles whilst working as a barman in New York. He gained more theatrical work, for example, performing in Bayside Boys (1981), but it was in 1984 that his first major breakthrough came when he replaced the lead in Fool for Love, which lasted for 100 performances.
Bruce Willis's first TV appearance was a cameo role in Miami Vice, but he really burst onto television screens when he beat off 3,000 rivals to star, opposite Cybill Shepherd, as David Addison in Aaron Spelling's popular television series "Moonlighting". Not only did the series expose Willis to a huge audience, it also won him an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award.
Although he had previously been an extra in films, in effect, Bruce Willis made his feature film debut opposite Kim Bassinger in the comedy Blind Date.
But it was the action film Die Hard (1988) which established Willis as a film star.
Since then, his films have been rather a mixed bag. Stand-outs have been Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys and Besson's The Fifth Element.
Bruce Willis is also a talented musician. In 1986, he released an album for Motown Records, Bruce Willis: The Return of Bruce, which went platinum, and in 1989, he released his second album, If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes you Stronger.
Bruce Willis took his band out to Iraq in 2003 to entertain the troops.
Bruce Willis came 35th in Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Movie Stars.
Recent performances by Bruce Willis include Lucky Number Slevin, 16 Blocks, Alpha Dog, and Perfect Stranger.
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