Bruce Campbell Biography

Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor, voice artist, director, writer, producer, comedian and author. A cult film actor, Campbell is best known for portraying Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead franchise, from the 1978 short film Within the Woods to the currently ongoing TV series Ash vs. Evil Dead. He also has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave (1985), Maniac Cop (1988), Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989), and Bubba Ho-Tep (2002). He has since made small appearances in successful films and TV series such as Darkman (1990), The X-Files (1998), Ellen (1996-97), Charmed (2002), Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and Cars 2 (2011). Campbell is of Scottish descent.

Campbell started his directing career with Fanalysis (2002) and A Community Speaks (2004), and then with the horror comedy feature films Man with the Screaming Brain (2005) and My Name Is Bruce (2007), the latter being a spoof of his career. In television, Campbell also is known for his lead roles in both The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993-94) and Jack of all Trades (2000), his starring role of Autolycus (the King of Thieves) in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-99), and notably for his role as Sam Axe on the USA Network series Burn Notice (2007-13).

Personal life

Campbell was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, the son of Joanne Louise (ne Pickens), a homemaker, and Charles Newton Campbell, an amateur actor and traveling billboard inspector. He has an older brother, Don, and an older half-brother, Michael Rendine.

Campbell's first wife was Cristine Deveau, whom he married in 1983. They had two children, Rebecca and Andy, before their divorce in 1989. Campbell currently lives in Jacksonville, Oregon, with his second wife, costume designer Ida Gearon, whom he met on the set of the movie Mindwarp.

Campbell is also an ordained minister and has officiated weddings for couples.

Career

Early years

Campbell began acting as a teenager and soon began making short Super 8 movies with friends. After meeting Sam Raimi in Wylie E. Groves High School, the two became very good friends and started making movies together. Campbell would go on to attend Western Michigan University while he continued to work on his acting career. Campbell and Raimi collaborated on a 30-minute Super 8 version of the first Evil Dead film, titled Within the Woods, which was initially used to attract investors.

Major film roles

A few years later, Campbell and Raimi got together with family and friends and began work on The Evil Dead. Campbell starred and worked behind the camera, receiving a "co-executive producer" credit. Raimi wrote, directed and edited, while fellow Michigander Rob Tapert was producer. Following an endorsement by horror writer Stephen King, the film slowly began to receive distribution. Four years following its original release, it became the number one movie in the UK. It then received distribution in the U.S., spawning two sequels: Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. Campbell's role as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams has since become iconic. The first two films in the series are considered horror classics and are credited with spawning the "horror comedy" genre.

He was also drawn in the Marvel Zombie comics as his character, Ash Williams. He is featured in five comics, all in the series Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness. In the comics he fights alongside the Marvel heroes against the heroes and people who have turned into zombies (deadites) while in search of the Necronomicon (Book of the Dead).

He has appeared in many of Raimi's films outside of the Evil Dead series, notably having cameos in the director's Spider-Man film series. Campbell also joined the cast in Raimi's Darkman and The Quick and the Dead, though having no actual screen time in the latter film's theatrical cut.

Campbell often takes on quirky roles, such as Elvis Presley in the film Bubba Ho-Tep. Along with Bubba Ho-Tep, he played a supporting role in starred in Maniac Cop and Maniac Cop 2, and spoofed his career in the self-directed My Name is Bruce.

Other mainstream films for Campbell include supporting or featured roles in the Coen Brothers film The Hudsucker Proxy, the Michael Crichton adaptation Congo, the film version of McHale's Navy, Escape From L.A. ( the sequel to John Carpenter's Escape From New York), the Jim Carrey drama The Majestic and the 2005 Disney film Sky High.

Campbell had a starring voice role in the hit 2009 animated adaptation of the children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and a supporting voice role in Pixar's Cars 2.

In January 2010, he stated in an interview that his new film project is called Bruce vs. Frankenstein. The film is directed and produced by his friend Mike Richardson.

Campbell produced the remake of The Evil Dead, along with Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. Campbell made an appearance that may allude to his signature character, Ash, and will reprise his role in Army of Darkness 2. In an interview with TV personality Erin Ashley Darling, Campbell announced that Army of Darkness 2 is not happening, saying "It's all internet b.s. There's no reality whatsoever. These random comments slip out of either my mouth, or Sam Raimi's mouth, next thing you know, we're making a sequel."

Television roles

Outside of film, Campbell has appeared in a number of television series. He starred in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. a boisterous science fiction comedy western created by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse that ran for one season. He played a lawyer turned bounty hunter who was trying to hunt down John Bly, the man who killed his father. He starred in the television series Jack of All Trades, set on a fictional island, occupied by the French in 1801. Campbell was also credited as co-executive producer, among others. The show was directed by Eric Gruendemann, and was produced by various people, including Sam Raimi. The show aired for two seasons, from 2000 to 2001. He had a recurring role as "Bill Church Jr." based upon the character of Morgan Edge from the Superman comics on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

From 1996 to 1997, Campbell was a recurring guest star on the show Ellen as Ed Billik, who becomes Ellen's boss when she sells her bookstore in season four. He is also known for his supporting role as the recurring character Autolycus ("the King of Thieves") on both Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess, which reunited him with producer Rob Tapert. Campbell played Hercules/Xena series producer Tapert in two episodes of Hercules set in the present. He directed a number of episodes of Hercules and Xena, including the Hercules series finale. Campbell also landed the lead role of race car driver Hank Cooper in the Disney made-for-television remake of The Love Bug.

Campbell made a critically acclaimed dramatic guest role as a grief-stricken detective seeking revenge for his father's murder in a two-part episode of the fourth season of Homicide: Life on the Street. Campbell later played the part of a bigamous demon in The X-Files episode, "Terms of Endearment". He also starred as Agent Jackman in the episode "Witch Way Now?" of the WB series Charmed, as well as playing a state police officer in an episode of the short-lived series American Gothic titled "Meet the Beetles".

Campbell co-starred on the television series Burn Notice, which aired from 2007 to 2013 on USA Network. He portrayed Sam Axe, a beer-chugging, womanizing former Navy SEAL now working as an unlicensed private investigator and occasional mercenary with his old friend Michael Westen, the show's main character. When working under cover, his character frequently used the alias Chuck Finley, whom Bruce later revealed was the name of one of his father's old co-workers. Campbell was the star of a 2011 Burn Notice made-for-television prequel focusing on Sam's Navy SEAL career, titled Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe.

In 2014, Campbell played Santa Claus in an episode of The Librarians. Campbell played Ronald Reagan in season 2 of the FX original series Fargo. Most recently Campbell is reprising his role as Ashley "Ash" Williams in Ash vs Evil Dead, a series based upon the Evil Dead franchise that launched his career. Ash vs Evil Dead began airing on Starz on October 31, 2015, and was renewed by the cable channel for a second season.

Voice acting

Campbell is featured as a voice actor in several video game titles. He provides the voice of Ash in the three games based on the Evil Dead film series: Evil Dead: Hail to the King, Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick and Evil Dead: Regeneration. He also provided voice talent in other titles such as Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle, Spider-Man: The Movie, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man.

He provided the voice of main character Jake Logan in the PC title, Tachyon: The Fringe, the voice of main character Jake Burton in the PlayStation game Broken Helix and the voice of Magnanimous in Megas XLR. Campbell voiced the pulp adventurer Lobster Johnson in Hellboy: The Science of Evil and has done voice-over work for the Codemaster's game Hei$t, a game which was announced on January 28, 2010 to have been "terminated". He also provided the voice of The Mayor in the 2009 film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, the voice of Rod "Torque" Redline in Cars 2 and the voice of "Fugax" in the 2006 film The Ant Bully.

Despite the inclusion of his character "Ash Williams" in Telltale Games' Poker Night 2, Danny Webber voices the character in the game, instead of Bruce Campbell.

He has a voice in the online MOBA game, Tome: Immortal Arena in 2014. Campbell also provided voice-over and motion capture for Sgt. Lennox in the Exo Zombies mode of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

Writing

In addition to acting and occasionally directing, Campbell has become a writer, starting with an autobiography, If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, published on August 24, 2002. The autobiography was a successful New York Times Best Seller. The paperback version of the book adds a chapter about the reaction of fans at book signings.

"Whenever I do mainstream stuff, I think they're pseudo-interested, but they're still interested in seeing weirdo, offbeat stuff, and that's what I'm attracted to".

If Chins Could Kill follows Campbell's career to date as an actor in low-budget films and television, providing his insight into "Blue-Collar Hollywood".

Campbell's next book, Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way was published on May 26, 2005. The book's plot involves Bruce (depicted in a comical way) as the main character struggling to make it into the world of A-list movies. He later recorded an audio play adaptation of Make Love with fellow Michigan actors, including longtime collaborator Ted Raimi. This radio drama was released through the independent label Rykodisc and spans 6 discs with a 6-hour running time.

In addition to his books, Campbell also wrote a column for X Ray Magazine in 2001, an issue of the popular comic series The Hire, and comic book adaptations of his Man with the Screaming Brain. Most recently he wrote the introduction to Josh Becker's The Complete Guide to Low-Budget Feature Filmmaking.

Campbell maintained a blog on his official website, where he posted mainly about politics and the film industry. The blog has since been discontinued.

Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival

Since 2014, the Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival, narrated and organized by Campbell, has been held in the Muvico Theater in Rosemont, Illinois. The first festival had his original run from August 21 to 25, 2014 presented by Wizard World, as part of the Chicago Comiccon. The second festival ran from August 20 to 23, 2015, with the guests Tom Holland and Eli Roth.

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Role	Director	Notes
1977	It's Murder!	Cop on Bicycle	Sam Raimi	Sam Raimi's first directorial work
1978	Within the Woods	Bruce		Short film
1979	Attack of the Helping Hand	The Hamburger Helper Helping Hand and The Pillsbury Doughboy	Scott Spiegel	Short film Uncredited roles also cinematographer
1981	The Evil Dead	Ash Williams	Sam Raimi	Also co-executive producer
1982	Cleveland Smith: Bounty Hunter	Cleveland Smith	Josh Becker	Short film
	Blood Simple investor trailer	Julian Marty	Joel and Ethan Coen	Trailer
1983	Going Back	Brice Chapman	Ron Teachworth
1985	Crimewave	Renaldo 'The Heel'	Sam Raimi
	Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except	Video newscaster	Josh Becker
1987	Evil Dead II	Ash Williams	Sam Raimi
1988	Maniac Cop	Jack Forrest	William Lustig
1989	Intruder	Officer Howard	Scott Spiegel
	Moontrap	Ray Tanner	Robert Dyke
	The Dead Next Door	Voice	J.R. Bookwalter
1990	Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat	Robert Van Helsing	Anthony Hickox
	Maniac Cop 2	Jack Forrest	William Lustig
	Darkman	Final Shemp	Sam Raimi	Cameo
1991	Lunatics: A Love Story	Ray	Josh Becker
1992	Eddie Presley	Asylum Attendant	Jeff Burr
	Waxwork II: Lost in Time	John Loftmore	Anthony Hickox
	Mindwarp	Stover	Steve Barnett
	Army of Darkness	Ash Williams/Evil Ash	Sam Raimi
1994	The Hudsucker Proxy	Smitty	Joel and Ethan Coen
1995	Congo	Charles Travis	Frank Marshall
	The Demolitionist	Raffle Winner	Robert Kurtzman
1996	Fargo	Soap Opera Actor	Joel and Ethan Coen
	Escape from L.A.	Surgeon General of Beverly Hills	John Carpenter
1997	In the Line of Duty: Blaze of Glory	Jeff Erickson	Dick Lowry
	Menno's Mind	Mick Dourif, Rebel Leader	Jon Kroll
	Running Time	Carl	Josh Becker
	McHale's Navy	Virgil	Bryan Spicer
1998	The Ice Rink	Actor	Jean-Philippe Toussaint
1999	From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money	Barry	Scott Spiegel	Direct-to-DVD
2000	Icebreaker	Carl Greig	David Giancola
	Timequest	William Roberts	Robert Dyke
2001	Hubert's Brain	Thompson	Phil Alden Robinson	Voice
	The Majestic	Roland the Intrepid Explorer	Frank Darabont
2002	Spider-Man	Ring Announcer	Sam Raimi	Cameo
	Bubba Ho-Tep	Elvis Presley	Don Coscarelli
	Serving Sara	Gordon Moore	Reginald Hudlin
	Fanalysis	Himself	Himself	Documentary
2003	Drugs	Bruce	Chad Peter	Direct-to-DVD
	Intolerable Cruelty	Soap opera actor on TV	Joel and Ethan Coen
2004	The Ladykillers	Humane Society Worker
	Comic Book: The Movie	Himself	Mark Hamill
	A Community Speaks	Himself	Himself & Ida Gearon	Documentary
	Spider-Man 2	Snooty Usher	Sam Raimi	Cameo
2005	Man with the Screaming Brain	William Cole	Himself
	Sky High	Coach Boomer	Mike Mitchell
2006	The Woods	Joe Fasulo	Lucky McKee
	The Ant Bully	Fugax	John A. Davis	Voice
2007	Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters	Chicken Bittle	Matt Maiellaro, Dave Willis
	Spider-Man 3	Matre d"?	Sam Raimi	Cameo
	My Name Is Bruce	Faux Bruce Campbell	Himself	Also director
2009	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Mayor Shelbourne	Phil Lord and Chris Miller	Voice
	White on Rice	Muramoto	Dave Boyle
2011	Cars 2	Rod "Torque" Redline	John Lasseter, Brad Lewis
2012	Tar	Goody	Various
2013	Oz the Great and Powerful	Winkie Guard	Sam Raimi	Cameo
	Evil Dead	Ash Williams	Fede Alvarez	Cameo
2015	The Escort	Charles Cooper	Will Slocombe
2016
	Dark Ascension	Man in Hawaiian Shirt	Gene Fallaize	Post production
2017	MallBrats	TBA	Kevin Smith	pre-production

TV series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Knots Landing	Joel Benson	9.07 "Say Uncle"
1983	Generations	Alan Stuart
1993	The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.	Brisco County, Jr.	Series Lead (1993-94)
1995	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Autolycus	1995-99
	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Bill Church Jr.	2.20 "Individual Responsibility"; 2.21 "Whine, Whine, Whine"; 3.01 "We Have a Lot to Talk About"
	American Gothic	Lt. Drey	1.06 "Meet the Beetles"
1996	Ellen	Ed Billik	7 episodes (1996-97)
	Xena: Warrior Princess	Autolycus	1996-99
	Homicide: Life on the Street	Jake Rodzinsky	4.13, 4.14 "Justice Parts 1 & 2"
	Tornado!	Jake Thorne	Television film
	Assault on Dome 4	Alex Windham	Television film
1997	Weird Science	Gene the Genie	5.11 "I Dream of Gene"
	The Love Bug	Hank Cooper	Television film
	Goldrush: A Real Life Alaskan Adventure	Pierce Thomas 'PT' Madison
1998	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Rob Tapert	4.15 "Yes, Virginia, There Is a Hercules"
	Timecop	Agent Tommy Maddox	1.09 "The Future, Jack, the Future"
1999	The X-Files	Wayne Weinsider	6.07 "Terms of Endearment"
	Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Rob Tapert	5.09 "For Those of You Just Joining Us.."
2000	Jack of All Trades	Jack Stiles / Daring Dragoon	Series Lead (2000)
2001	Beggars and Choosers	Jack	2.20 "The Long Goodbye"
	The Legend of Tarzan	Max Liebling	1.28 "Tarzan and One Punch Mullargan"
2002	Charmed	FBI Agent Woody Jackman	4.21 "Witch Way Now?"
	Terminal Invasion	Jack	Television film
2003	Duck Dodgers	Pork Piggler	1.06 "K-9 Kaddy/Pig of Action"
	My Life as a Teenage Robot	Himcules	1.11 "Daydream Believer/This Time with Feeling"
2004	Megas XLR	Magnanimous	1.03 "Battle Royale"; 2.02 "The Return"
2005	Alien Apocalypse	Dr. Ivan Hood	Television film
2006	Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!	Captain Shuggazoom	4.49 "Golden Age"
	The Replacements	Phil Mygrave	5 episodes (2006-09)
	Touch the Top of the World	Ed Weihenmayer	Television film
2007-2013	Burn Notice	Sam Axe	Main Character (2007-13)
	El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera	The Industiralist	Episode: Burrito's Little Helper/Crouching Tigre, Hidden Dragon
2011	Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe	Sam Axe	Television film
2013	1600 Penn	Doug	1.6 "Skip the Tour"
2014	Psych	Dr. Ashford N. Simpson	8.09 "A Nightmare on State Street"
	The Librarians	Santa Claus	1.4 "And Santas Midnight Run"
2015-present	Ash vs Evil Dead	Ash Williams	Main
2015	Fargo	Ronald Reagan	2.05 "The Gift of the Magi"; 2.08 "Loplop" (voice) (uncredited)
	Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja	The Creep

Director

Year	Film	Notes
2002	Fanalysis	Documentary
2004	A Community Speaks
2005	Man with the Screaming Brain
2007	My Name Is Bruce

Producer

Year	Film	Notes
1981	The Evil Dead
1987	Evil Dead II
1991	Lunatics: A Love Story
1992	Army of Darkness
2002	Fanalysis
2004	A Community Speaks
2005	Man with the Screaming Brain
2007	My Name Is Bruce
2011	Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe
2013	Evil Dead

Writer

Year	Film	Notes
1985	Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except
1992	The Nutt House	Credited as R.O.C. Sandstorm
2005	Man with the Screaming Brain

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	Broken Helix	Jake Burton
1998	Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle	Pitfall Harry Jr
2000	Tachyon: The Fringe	Protagonist
	Evil Dead: Hail to the King	Ash Williams
2002	Spider-Man	Tutorial Narrator
2003	Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick	Ash Williams
2004	Spider-Man 2	Tutorial Narrator
2005	Evil Dead: Regeneration	Ash Williams
2007	Spider-Man 3	Tutorial Narrator
2012	The Amazing Spider-Man	The Extreme Reporter
2014	TOME: Immortal Arena	Tutorial Narrator	Game Closed
2015	Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare	Lennox	Exo Zombies DLC

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result
1993	Fangoria Chainsaw Award	Best Actor	Army of Darkness
2003	DVD Exclusive Award	Best Audio Commentary (Limited Edition)	The Evil Dead
	The Comedy Festival	Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Actor	Bubba Ho-Tep
2004	Chlotrudis Award	Best Actor
	Fangoria Chainsaw Award
2005	Fantasporto Film Festival	International Fantasy Film Award for Best Actor
2007	Ashland Independent Film Festival	Rogue Award
2010	Satellite Awards	Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film	Burn Notice
2016	Fangoria Chainsaw Award	Best Actor on Television	Ash vs Evil Dead
	Saturn Awards	Best Actor on Television

See also

• If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor (ISBN 0-312-24264-6),
• Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way (ISBN 0-312-31260-1)