The Maverick Actor: 15 Fascinating Facts About Woody Harrelson

1. His Father Was a Convicted Hitman

Woody Harrelson’s father, Charles Harrelson, was a professional hitman who was convicted in 1981 for the 1979 assassination of U.S. District Judge John H. Wood Jr., marked as the first federal judge killed in the 20th century. Charles received two life sentences and spent the remainder of his life in the ADX Florence supermax prison. Despite the dark circumstances surrounding his upbringing, Woody maintained contact with his father and visited him frequently until Charles passed away in 2007. Harrelson has often spoken candidly in interviews about the complex emotional journey of reconciling his love for his father with the reality of his father's crimes.

2. He Attended College and Was Friends with Mike Pence

Harrelson attended Hanover College in Indiana during the early 1980s, where he pursued degrees in English and Presbyterian theology. Interestingly, future Vice President Mike Pence was a fellow student at Hanover during the exact same era, and the two were actually friends who spent time discussing faith and scripture together. Harrelson has frequently reflected on the paradox of their early friendship, given their vastly divergent political paths later in life. He noted that while he found Pence to be quite charming and devout at the time, their ideological perspectives drastically separated as they grew older.

3. An Unconventional Audition Landed Him His Breakout Role on Cheers

When auditioning for the role of naive bartender Woody Boyd on the hit sitcom Cheers, Harrelson was exceptionally nervous and aggressively blew his nose right in front of the casting directors. Rather than ruining his chances, the bizarre and uninhibited act instantly cracked up director James Burrows and the show's producers. They immediately recognized that his quirky, authentic energy was ideal for replacing the late Nicholas Colasanto's character on the show. Harrelson won the role on the spot, earning five Emmy nominations and a win during his iconic tenure on the series.

4. He Refused to Eat Real Twinkies in Zombieland

In the 2009 horror-comedy Zombieland, Harrelson’s character Tallahassee is famously obsessed with finding the last surviving Twinkie on Earth. In reality, Harrelson has been a strict raw vegan for decades and strictly avoids consuming processed food, dairy, or refined sugar. To accommodate his dietary lifestyle, the film's prop department had to craft custom vegan substitutes out of mock cornmeal cakes filled with vegan marshmallow cream. Harrelson happily munched on these specialized props throughout production while maintaining his strict plant-based regime.

5. He Was Arrested for Scaling the Golden Gate Bridge

A dedicated environmentalist, Harrelson made national headlines in 1996 when he scaled the Golden Gate Bridge alongside fellow activists to protest the logging of northern California’s ancient redwood trees. The stunt involved hanging a massive banner across the structural span, which inadvertently caused gridlock traffic for miles. Harrelson was arrested by local authorities and charged with trespassing and creating a public nuisance. The dramatic protest successfully drew global media attention to the protection of the Headwaters Forest.

6. He Played Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov to a Draw

Off-screen, Harrelson is an avid and highly skilled chess player who takes the strategic board game very seriously. In 1999, he participated in a high-profile speed exhibition match against former World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov in London. Supported by tactical advice from grandmaster Yasser Seirawan during the match, Harrelson managed to hold the legendary chess champion to an impressive draw after over twenty moves. The surprising result delighted spectators and earned Harrelson genuine respect within the competitive chess community.

7. He Originally Planned to Become a Christian Minister

Before pursuing a professional career on stage and screen, Harrelson’s original aspiration was to enter the pulpit as a Presbyterian minister. His early education focused heavily on theology, biblical studies, and religious history, inspired by his deep spiritual interest during his teenage years. However, after taking introductory theater courses at Hanover College and discovering his natural gift for performance, he shifted his primary focus to dramatic arts. Despite changing career paths, he retained a deeply personal, non-traditional approach to spirituality.

8. He Made History with the World’s First Live Cinema Movie

In 2017, Harrelson wrote, directed, and starred in Lost in London, an ambitious experimental comedy-drama loosely based on a real night he spent in a British police station. The entire feature-length movie was shot in a single continuous take using one camera and broadcast live directly into over 500 movie theaters across North America and Europe simultaneously as it was being performed. It set an unprecedented cinematic record as the first live feature film ever broadcast in real time, executing complex driving scenes and location changes seamlessly.

9. He Initially Turned Down His Role in The Hunger Games

Harrelson almost passed on playing Haymitch Abernathy, the cynical, alcoholic mentor in The Hunger Games franchise, because he felt the character was written too thinly in the initial script outline. Director Gary Ross called him personally to explain his creative vision for expanding Haymitch’s emotional depth and back-story, convincing Harrelson to sign on. Harrelson's nuanced performance turned Haymitch into one of the most beloved figures in the entire film franchise, leading him to reprise the role across all four blockbuster movies.

10. He Opened an Oxygen Bar in West Hollywood

During the late 1990s, Harrelson jumped into an unusual business venture by opening "O2," one of the first dedicated oxygen bars in North America, located on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. Customers paid money to sit at a bar and breathe purified, aromatic oxygen infused with plant essences through small nasal tubes. While the venue generated massive media curiosity and highlighted alternative wellness trends, the niche business model ultimately proved to be a short-lived fad, leading to its closure a few years later.

11. He Lives a Tech-Minimalist Lifestyle Without a Smartphone

To protect his personal peace and maintain mental presence, Harrelson spent years entirely avoiding mobile phones, particularly modern smartphones. He noted that constantly checking texts, emails, and social media notifications severely disrupted his concentration and personal interactions. When he needs to communicate while traveling or working on film sets, he relies on landline connections or coordinates through his personal assistants, preferring genuine face-to-face contact over screen time.

12. He Scored a Winning Penalty Kick at Old Trafford

Harrelson is a passionate soccer enthusiast who has showcased his athleticism on prominent international stages. During the 2010 Soccer Aid charity match held at Manchester United's iconic Old Trafford stadium, Harrelson played for the Rest of the World team against an England squad featuring former professionals and celebrities. Facing off in a tense penalty shootout, he calmly stepped up and netted the game-winning penalty kick, driving tens of thousands of cheering fans in attendance into a frenzy.

13. He Intentionally Got Arrested to Challenge Hemp Laws

Long before industrial hemp was legalized federally in the United States, Harrelson was one of its most outspoken national advocates. In 1996, he intentionally planted four industrial hemp seeds in Lee County, Kentucky, accompanied by legal counsel and camera crews, to challenge state statutes that conflated non-psychoactive industrial hemp with marijuana. His deliberate arrest initiated a high-profile constitutional challenge that raised public awareness about the agricultural benefits of industrial hemp and paved the way for legislative reform.

14. He and His Wife Executed a Fake Divorce Prank

Known for his dry, eccentric sense of humor, Harrelson and his long-time partner Laura Louie once pulled off an elaborate prank by leaking fake news of their imminent split to gossip columnists. The couple, who had been together for decades before officially marrying in 2008, found the public’s obsession with celebrity marital drama amusing. However, major news outlets took the joke completely seriously, resulting in widespread frantic tabloid coverage before the couple publicly revealed the entire story was pure satire.

15. He Applied to Open a Legal Cannabis Dispensary in Hawaii

A resident of Maui for many years, Harrelson turned his long-standing advocacy for natural medicine into action by applying for an official medical cannabis dispensary license in Hawaii in 2016. His company, named Simple Organic Medicinal Supplies, was among dozens of applicants seeking permission to cultivate and sell state-regulated medical cannabis to patients. Although his application was ultimately not selected by Hawaii’s Department of Health due to competitive scoring, he remains a prominent public advocate for global drug policy reform.