James Howard Woods was born in Vernal, Utah and became well-known for portraying complex and often intense characters. He seized the attention of movie-goers with his performance in The Onion Field (1979), and scored a best actor Academy Award nomination playing Richard Boyle in Oliver Stone's Salvador (1986). He continued to rise in prominence in the 1990’s with roles such as Roy Cohn in Citizen Cohn (1992) and as Byron De La Beckwith in Ghosts of Mississippi (1996). He has also had a very large role in voice acting, including in the animated productions Hercules (1997), Hooves of Fire (1999), and Stuart Little 2 (2002). In the early 2000’s he additionally appeared in films like Riding in Cars with Boys (2001) and Scary Movie 2 (2001).