Bill Paxton / Biography

Bill moved to Los Angeles at 18 where he found work in the film industry as a set dresser for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. He made his film debut in the Corman film Crazy Mama (1975) directed by Jonathan Demme. Moving to New York, he studied acting under Stella Adler at New York University. After landing a small role in Stripes (1981), Bill found steady work in low-budget films and TV. He also directed, wrote and produced award-winning short films including _Fish Heads (1982)_ which aired on "Saturday Night Live" (1975). His first appearance in a James Cameron film was a small role in The Terminator (1984) followed hard by his very memorable performance as Private Hudson in Aliens (1986) and as the nomadic vampire Severen in Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark (1987). Bill also appeared in John Hughes' Weird Science (1985), as Wyatt's sadistic older brother Chet. Although he continued to work steadily in film and TV, his big break did not come until his lead role in the critically acclaimed film-noir One False Move (1992). This quickly led to strong supporting roles as Wyatt Earp's naive younger brother Morgan in Tombstone (1993) and as Fred Haise, one of the three astronauts in Apollo 13 (1995), as well as in James Cameron's offering True Lies (1994).