James Woods grew up in Warwick, Rhode Island, USA, where he graduated from Pilgrim High School in 1965 near the top of his class. Afterwards, he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He dropped out to pursue his acting career shortly before his scheduled graduation in 1969.

10/15/98: Received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.A reserve officer in the Los Angeles Police Dept.He appeared in the music video and sang in the choir on the song "Voices That Care."Fired his agent for not telling him of Quentin Tarantino's offer to star as Mr. Orange/Freddie in Reservoir Dogs (1992).Dated actress Heather GrahamMajored in Political Science at M.I.T.Brother of actor Michael Jeffrey Woods.Was allegedly harassed and stalked by Sean Young after their dating relationship ended.Member of Theta Delta Chi Fraternity.1997: Was engaged to actress Missy Crider; they met when she played his daughter in the TV movie Jane's House (1994) (TV).2001: While on a commercial flight from Boston to Los Angeles in August, he noticed a group of men acting suspiciously on the plane and informed a flight attendant that he felt they were planning to hijack the plane. He has thus been in several interviews with FBI agents since the September 11 attacks.Provided the voice of Carl, the straight-laced rabbit in the pet store across the street from a rental station, in a series of Blockbuster commercials.Is ambidextrous (as seen in The Virgin Suicides (1999), writes on chalkboard with both hands).Is the son of a U.S. Army intelligence officer.The high school in the animated show "Family Guy" (1999) was named after him (James Woods High School).Visits his family in Rhode Island frequently.Loves cooking and is an excellent chef.Enjoys playing golf.Quit smoking cigarettes in 1993. Played as a man trying to break the habit using drastic, preventive measures in Stephen King's Cat's Eye (1985).Loves photography.He was accepted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a full scholarship, majoring not in the physical sciences but in political science. He also pursued acting, appearing in 36 plays at MIT, Harvard, and the Theater Company of Boston and also performed in summer stock at the Provincetown Playhouse. He dropped out of MIT during his last year to move to New York and pursue acting full-time.Got his third TV role, as a thug on "Kojak" (1973), after Richard Dreyfuss and Martin Sheen had turned it down.Referred to composer Howard Shore as the Bernard Herrmann of the synthesizer.Is a member of MENSA (as are Geena Davis, Cy Frost, Chino XL, Ben Rollins and Alan Rachins).He was considered a brilliant student, enrolling in a UCLA linear algebra course while still attending high school. He scored a perfect 800 on the verbal SAT and a 779 on the math portion.Childhood friend of Wall Street Journal personal technology columnist Walt Mossberg.Hades from the Disney franchise is his favorite role and he states that he'll continue playing the character, whenever needed, until the day he dies because he loves the character so very much.Is against capital punishment.Is good friends with Sharon Stone and told Cigar Aficionado in an interview that he considers her one of the smartest women in the movie business.Writes with his right hand mostly but does pretty much everything else with his left.He plays a character who works for Richard Nixon in Nixon (1995) and played one of a band of men who wore Nixon masks when they robbed a police depository in Best Seller (1987).