William H. Macy Bio
William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is a two-time Emmy Award and four-time Screen Actors Guild Award winner, and has been nominated for an Academy Award, a Drama Critics’ Circle Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. Macy rose to prominence for his collaborations with playwright David Mamet, before building a film career on appearances in small, independent films, earning two Independent Spirit Award nominations. His first major role in a mainstream film was Jerry Lundegaard in Fargo (1996). For his performance in Fargo, Macy received critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Macy’s subsequent mainstream film roles include Boogie Nights (1997), Air Force One (1997), Magnolia (1999), Mystery Men (1999), Jurassic Park III (2001), Bobby (2006), Thank You For Smoking (2005), Room (2015), Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024), and The Running Man (2025). From 2011 to 2021, he starred as Frank Gallagher on the television series Shameless. He played Dr. David Morgenstern on ER (1994–2009).
Early Life and Background
Macy was born on March 13, 1950, in Miami, Florida, and grew up in Georgia and Maryland. His father, William Hall Macy Sr. (1922–2007), was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal for flying a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber in World War II; he later ran a construction company in Atlanta, Georgia, and worked for Dun & Bradstreet before taking over a Cumberland, Maryland–based insurance agency when Macy was nine years old. Macy’s mother, Lois (née Overstreet; 1920–2001), was a war widow who met Macy’s father after her first husband died in 1943. Macy has described her as a “Southern belle.” Macy graduated from Allegany High School in Cumberland, Maryland, in 1968. He attended Bethany College in West Virginia, where he studied veterinary medicine. A “wretched student” by his own admission, he transferred to Goddard College in rural Vermont, where he studied under playwright David Mamet, and graduated in 1972. He studied theater at HB Studio in New York City.
Path to Hollywood
After graduating from Goddard, Macy originated roles in a number of plays by collaborator David Mamet, such as American Buffalo and The Water Engine. While in Chicago in his twenties, he did a TV commercial. He was required to join AFTRA in order to do the commercial, and received his SAG card within a year, which for an elated Macy represented an important moment in his career. Macy spent time in Los Angeles before moving to New York City in 1980, where he had roles in over fifty Off Broadway and Broadway plays. One of his earliest on-screen roles was as a theater critic congratulating Christopher Reeve in 1980’s Somewhere In Time, under the name W.H. Macy, so as not to be confused with the actor Bill Macy. Another memorable early performance was as a turtle named Socrates in the direct-to-video film The Boy Who Loved Trolls (1984). He had a minor role as a hospital orderly on the sitcom Kate & Allie in the fourth-season episode “General Hospital,” and played an assistant district attorney in “Everybody’s Favorite Bagman,” the first produced episode of Law & Order. In both appearances, he was billed as W. H. Macy. He has appeared in numerous films that Mamet wrote or directed, such as House of Games (1987), Things Change (1988), Homicide (1991), Oleanna (1994) (reprising the role he originated in the play of the same name), Wag the Dog (1997), State and Main (2000), and Spartan (2004).
William H. Macy Career
Early Career (1963–1995)
Macy’s leading role in Fargo (1996) helped boost his career and recognizability, though at the expense of nearly confining him to a narrow typecast of a worried man down on his luck. Other Macy roles of the 1990s and 2000s included Benny & Joon (1993), The Client (1994), Above Suspicion (1995), Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995), Ghosts of Mississippi (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), A Civil Action (1998), Pleasantville (1998), Gus Van Sant’s remake of Psycho (1998), Happy, Texas (1999), Mystery Men (1999), Magnolia (1999), Panic (2000), Jurassic Park III (2001), Focus (2001), Welcome to Collinwood (2002), Seabiscuit (2003), The Cooler (2003), Cellular (2004), Sahara (2005), Everyone’s Hero (2006), and Bobby (2006). He had a recurring role on ER (1994–2009) and Sports Night (1999–2000). Both roles earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Macy wrote and starred in Door to Door in 2002, winning an Emmy for writing and acting.
Breakthrough (1996–2000)
In a November 2003 interview with USA Today, Macy stated that he wanted to star in a big-budget action film “for the money, for the security of a franchise like that. And I love big action-adventure movies. They’re way cool.” He serves as director-in-residence at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York, where he teaches a technique called Practical Aesthetics. A book describing the technique, A Practical Handbook for the Actor, is dedicated to Macy and Mamet. In 2007, Macy starred in Wild Hogs, a film about middle-aged men reliving their youthful days by taking to the open road on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles from Cincinnati to the Pacific Coast. Despite being critically panned, with a 14% “rotten” rating from Rotten Tomatoes, it was a financial success, grossing over $168 million. The film also reunited him with his A Civil Action costar, John Travolta. In 2009, Macy completed filming on The Maiden Heist, a comedy that co-starred Morgan Freeman and Christopher Walken. In June 2008, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman, would each receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the upcoming year. On January 13, 2009, Macy replaced Jeremy Piven in David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow on Broadway. Piven suddenly and unexpectedly dropped out of the play in December 2008 after he experienced health problems. Norbert Leo Butz covered the role from December 23, 2008, until Macy took over the part. Dirty Girl, which starred Macy along with Juno Temple, Milla Jovovich, Mary Steenburgen, and Tim McGraw, premiered September 12, 2010, at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Notable Works and Milestones
In summer 2010, Macy joined the Showtime pilot Shameless as the protagonist, Frank Gallagher. The project ultimately went to series, and its first season premiered on January 9, 2011. Macy has received high critical acclaim for his performance, eventually getting an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2014. In the 2012 film The Sessions, Macy played a priest who helps a man with a severe disability find personal fulfillment through a sex surrogate. He made his directorial debut with the independent drama Rudderless, which stars Billy Crudup, Anton Yelchin, Felicity Huffman, Selena Gomez, and Laurence Fishburne. In 2017, he directed The Layover, a road trip comedy starring Alexandra Daddario and Kate Upton. In 2015, he had a small role as Grandpa in the drama film Room, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film reunited him with his Pleasantville costar, Joan Allen. In 2024, he played Trevathan in the film Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.
William H. Macy Award Nominations
William H. Macy has received numerous nominations throughout his career, including nominations for the Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.
William H. Macy Awards Won
William H. Macy has won several prestigious awards, including two Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
William H. Macy Family
William H. Macy is married to actress Felicity Huffman, with whom he has two daughters.
Personal Life
Macy and Huffman dated on-and-off for 15 years before marrying on September 6, 1997. Macy plays the ukulele and is an avid woodturner. He has appeared on the cover of Fine Woodworking’s special edition, Wood Turning Basics, and was featured in an article in the April 2015 issue of American Woodturner. He is a national ambassador for the United Cerebral Palsy Association. Since shooting the film Wild Hogs, Macy has had a strong interest in riding motorcycles. Macy lives near and is the spokesperson for Woody Creek Distillers in Basalt, Colorado, which sells a signature whiskey bearing Macy’s name.
