Bruce Willis

Cast · Writer

Born

March 19, 1955 · Idar-Oberstein, West Germany

Birth name

Walter Bruce Willis

Bruce Willis is an actor, musician, and producer known for playing funny and tough characters in multiple action movies. He began his career in uncredited projects and small roles on television until he landed his first major role in the 1980s as a private detective in the hit romantic comedy television series Moonlight (1985). Three years later, he reprised his role as a New York detective named John McClane in the box-office hit Die Hard (1988), a film that spawned five sequels in the franchise: Die Hard 2 (1990), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and A Good Day to Die Hard (2013). He has also appeared in over sixty films, including such blockbusters as The Last Boy Scout (1991), Pulp Fiction (1994), 12 Monkeys (1995), The Fifth Element (1997), Armageddon (1998), The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), Tears of the Sun (2003), Sin City (2005), The Expendables (2010), Red (2010), Looper (2012) and Glass (2019). Films starring Willis have generated between $2.64 billion and $3.05 billion at the U.S. box office, positioning him as the ninth highest-grossing leading actor. He has received two Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award, and has been nominated four times for Saturn Awards. Willis was married to actress Demi Moore, with whom he had three daughters before their divorce in 2000 after thirteen years of marriage. Willis retired from acting in 2022 because of aphasia. In 2023, he was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.