James Howard Woods is an American actor and producer. He is known primarily for playing villainous roles and has appeared in a variety of films, including The Way We Were , The Onion Field , Videodrome , Once Upon a Time in America , Best Seller , Chaplin , Casino , Nixon , Vampires , Straw Dogs , and White House Down . On television, he is known for portraying the lead character in Shark and for playing himself on eight episodes of Family Guy, as well as on one episode of The Simpsons.
Woods has been nominated for two Academy Awards. The first was in the Best Actor category for Salvador and the second in the Best Supporting Actor category for Ghosts of Mississippi . He is the recipient of three Emmy Awards for the television movies Promise and My Name Is Bill W. and the animated series Hercules . Promise additionally brought him a Golden Globe Award.
Using his distinctive voice, he has played Mike Toreno in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Hades in Disney's Hercules , and Falcon in Stuart Little 2 .
The Tonight Show, 11 September 2006
Context: In a world where there is enlightenment, intelligence, kindness, awareness of others' needs and others' well-being, there is no terrorism. And in a world of viciousness and narrow-mindedness and only one way, there will be terrorism. Our challenge, in our country, is to find a way to disagree amongst ourselves without being so awful about it.
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 11 September 2006
