Bruce Campbell Biography
Born: June 22, 1958
Date of Birth: June 22, 1958
"There is a large element of me in every role I do. Actors who say they can dive inside a character are either schizophrenic or lying." Bruce Campbell
This Michigan native became interested in acting at the early age of eight. Inspired by his father, who acted in local community theater productions, Campbell first took to the stage playing the young prince in The King and I at age 14.
The experience led to more community plays and to making his own films with his super-8 camera. While in high school, his interest in film increased after meeting future director and fellow drama student, Sam Raimi. With similar interests and senses of humor, the two became friends, and worked together to make more films.
After high school he attended Western Michigan University, but dropped out before finishing his first year. He got work as a production assistant for commercials. In 1979 he and Raimi made a short horror film to convince investors to give them money to make a feature. After raising over $300,000, they filmed the cult classic Evil Dead, with Campbell starring. A horror that constantly crossed the line to ridiculous with cheap, yet effective special effects, the film became the top selling video in the UK, and received nods from film critics on the festival circuit.
Four years later, they filmed a sequel, Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn, in which Campbell once again starred. Using the sequel as a springboard, he moved to L.A. and landed roles in various independent films including Maniac Cop, Moontrap and Sundown.
Campbell returned to the Evil Dead franchise in 1992, rejoining with Raimi to complete the third instalment, Army of Darkness. This film was released in theaters across the country, and exposed Campbell to a wider, mainstream audience.
He was invited to play a small role in The Hudsucker Proxy, and soon found himself doing guest roles on television series like Lois & Clark, Weird Science and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, as well as a regular gig on Ellen for a year.
Working on the Hercules series, which was produced by his old friend Raimi, Campbell had another door opened to him as he made numerous appearances on both that show and the spinoff, Xena: Warrior Princess, playing Autolycus, the self proclaimed King of Thieves. The constant exposure, and the chance to direct a number of the episodes, eventually led to his own show, Jack of All Trades, about an American spy working against Napoleon's colonizing efforts on a Caribbean island.
Although his career in television was proving fruitful, Campbell continued to work in features, landing a range of small and large roles in films like Congo (19895), Escape From L.A. (1996), McHale's Navy (1997), The Majestic (2001) and Spider-Man (2002).
A multi-talented person, Campbell has also lent his voice to a number of computer games including Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle, Evil Dead: Hail to the King and Tachyon: The Fringe. Taking advantage of his B-Movie acting roots, Campbell wrote the book, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor.
Married twice, Campbell is presently married to costume designer Ida Gearon, and is the father of two children from his first marriage.
Filmography:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) (voice)White on Rice (2009) (voice)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
My Name is Bruce (2007)
The Ant Bully (2006) (voice)
The Woods (2005)
Sky High (2005)
Man with the Screaming Brain (2005)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Bubba Ho-Tep (2003)
Phantasm's End (2002)
Spider-Man (2002)
Serving Sara (2002)
The Majestic (2001)
Nobody Knows (2000)
Icebreaker (1999)
>From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999) (V)
La Patinoire (1999)
Running Time (1997)
McHale's Navy (1997)
Assault on Dome 4 (1996)
Menno's Mind (1996)
Escape from L.A. (1996)
Fargo (1996) (uncredited)
The Demolitionist (1995) (uncredited)
Congo (1995)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Army of Darkness (1993)
The Chiller Theatre Expo Video Vol. 1 (1992) (V)
Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992)
Lunatics: A Love Story (1991)
Darkman (1990)
Mindwarp (1990)
Maniac Cop 2 (1990)
Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989)
Moontrap (1989)
The Dead Next Door (1988) (voice)
Intruder (1988)
Maniac Cop (1988)
Evil Dead II (1987)
Terror (1987)
Stryker's War (1985) (uncredited)
Crimewave (1985)
Going Back (1983)
The Evil Dead (1982)
Within the Woods (1978)
It's Murder! (1977)