Brett V. Harrelson (born June 4, 1963) is an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

Early life

Brett Harrelson was born in

Midland, Texas Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States. A small part of Midland is in Martin County. At the 2020 census, Midland's population was 132,524. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas metropolitan ...

, the son of Diane Lou (née Oswald) and Charles Voyde Harrelson, who divorced in 1964. He has two brothers, Jordan and

Woody Harrelson Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...

. Harrelson's father, who was a

contract killer Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may b ...

, was arrested for the killing of Judge

John H. Wood Jr. John Howland Wood Jr. (March 31, 1916 – May 29, 1979) was an American lawyer and judge from Texas. He served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas before being assassinated ...

by rifle fire in 1979 in San Antonio. His father was convicted and eventually died during his life sentence in

United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility The United States Penitentiary, Florence Administrative Maximum Facility (USP Florence ADMAX), commonly known as ADX Florence, is an American federal prison in Fremont County, Colorado, Fremont County near Florence, Colorado. It is operated by t ...

. In 1973, Harrelson moved with his mother to her native city,

Lebanon, Ohio Lebanon is a city in and the county seat of Warren County, Ohio, United States. The population was 20,841 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. History Lebanon is in the Symmes Purchase. The first European settler ...

, where he was raised. Harrelson attended Lebanon High School but dropped-out at 17 to join the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, and spent two years in Germany. Afterward, he returned to Lebanon and worked as a legal clerk.

Career

At 22, Harrelson followed his brother Woody to California. "I came to L.A. to starify," he says. But finding nothing like Woody's success, he gave up acting for a while to become a motorcycle racer, rising to #8 in the 1992 professional national rankings. "After seeing a few people killed," says Brett, he became Woody's assistant and began to pursue his acting career again. His current activities include TV ads for "Harrelson's Own CBD". In 2020, Harrelson co-produced ''Son of a Hitman'', a podcast series. The show was released by

Spotify Studios Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active users ...

and High Five Content.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* Living people 1963 births People from Midland, Texas Male actors from Texas 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors People from Lebanon, Ohio Male actors from Ohio American male film actors {{US-film-actor-1960s-stub