William H Macy's Biography

Who is William H Macy?

Often known for playing spineless characters, William H. Macy's acting career has nonetheless seen him playing a number of intriguing roles during his 25-year career in cinema.

He started out working with playwright David Mamet and appeared in Broadway productions made by Mamet's theatre company before landing his first screen role in Foolin' Around (1980). During much of the Eighties Macy continued to play supporting roles, appearing in Mamet's House of Games and Woody Allen's Radio Days, both in 1987. In 1991 he had a bigger role in Homicide, again with David Mamet.

In 1996 he featured in the Coen Brothers blackest of comedies Fargo. William H Macy played the part of Jerry Lundegaard, a car salesman who hires a pair of would-be kidnappers to abduct his wife and force his wealthy father-in-law to pay her ransom. Fargo earned Macy a Best Supporting Actor nomination and soon after he was to appear in much higher profile films. This lead to his involvement in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997) and Magnolia (1999), which were both critically and commercially successful.

Aside from this, William H Macy has continued to appear in non-mainstream films and television in recent years and has picked-up glowing reviews along the way. In The Cooler (2003) a romantic drama, we once again see him playing a loser, hired by an ageing Las Vegas casino, where he falls in love with a cocktail waitress as his luck begins to change.

William H Macy is married to Felicity Huffman, who played Lynette Scavo in Desperate Housewives. They collaborated on Transamerica, which Macy executive produced, whilst Huffman stars as a male-to-female transsexual.

Macy is a huge admirer of Gene Hackman. He told a Channel 4 feature: "Gene Hackman is one of the great actors if not the greatest actor of our time. He never does the same thing twice. He's an expert at analysis. I think that's what I love about him most ..."

The Belfast Telegraph had an article about William H Macy, written around the time of the release of Bobby, in which Macy says about directing:

"A film needs to be a benign dictatorship, and it's a long, horrible day when it's not. The phrase I hate hearing is: 'We'll shoot it both ways.' The fact is, there's barely enough time or money to shoot it one way."

On 15 October 2009, the BBC reported that William H Macy is to play Frank Gallagher in a US adaptation of Channel 4 in the UK's comedy drama Shameless.

In 2016 and 2017, Macy gained an Emmy nomination for the role.

In 2017, he directed the movie The Layover.