Biography
Macy was born in Miami, Florida, and grew up in a Lutheran family in Georgia and Maryland. His father, also named William Hall Macy, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal for flying a B-17 bomber in World War II; he later ran a construction company in Atlanta and worked for Dun & Bradstreet before taking over a Cumberland, Maryland-based insurance agency when Macy was nine years old. His mother, Lois, was a war widow who met Macy's father after her first husband died in 1943; Macy describes her as a "Southern Belle".[1] Macy has a half-brother, Fred Merrill, from his mother's first marriage.
After graduating from Allegany High School in Cumberland, Maryland, Macy entered Bethany College of West Virginia to study veterinary medicine. By his own admission, a "wretched student," he transferred to Goddard College and became involved in theatre.
It was at Goddard College that he met the playwright David Mamet, who was only a couple of years older than Macy. Macy later came to consider Mamet the greatest writer of our time. He moved to Chicago, Illinois after graduating in 1971 and got a job as a bartender to pay the rent. Within a year he and Mamet, among others, founded the successful St. Nicholas Theater Company, where Macy originated roles in a number of Mamet's plays, such as American Buffalo and The Water Engine.
Career
After spending some time in Los Angeles, California, he moved to New York, New York in 1980. While living there he had roles in over fifty off-Broadway and Broadway plays.
His first role was as a turtle named, Socrates in the direct to video film, The Boy Who Loved Trolls. Under the name W. H. Macy and filmed in 1987.
He has appeared in films that Mamet wrote and/or directed, such as House of Games, Things Change, Homicide, Oleanna, and more recently, Wag the Dog and State and Main.
He may be best known for his lead role in Fargo, in a role for which he was nominated for an Academy Award. His film work also includes Benny & Joon, Above Suspicion, Mr. Holland's Opus, Ghosts of Mississippi, Air Force One, Boogie Nights, Pleasantville, Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho, Happy, Texas, Mystery Men, Magnolia, Jurassic Park III, Panic, Welcome to Collinwood, Seabiscuit, The Cooler and Sahara.
Macy has also had a number of roles on television. In 2003, he won two Emmy Awards, for the lead role and as co-writer of the made-for-TNT film Door to Door, a drama based on the true story of Bill Porter, a door-to-door salesman in Portland, Oregon, born with cerebral palsy. Macy is particularly proud of the writing for that film; he turned the commercial-interrupted format of television into an advantage in the film, by breaking the story up into several uninterrupted stories.
His work on ER and Sports Night has also been recognized with Emmy nominations.
In a November 2003 interview with USA Today, Macy said he wants to star in a big-budget action movie "for the money, for the security of a franchise like that."
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.
Private life
Since 1997, he has been married to Academy Award nominated actress Felicity Huffman. Their portmanteau couple nickname, as coined by Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report, is Filliam H. Muffman. The couple has two daughters, Sofia Grace and Georgia Grace.
He should not be confused with actor Bill Macy, who co-starred in the television series Maude, even though some call him Bill.
Selected filmography
Thank You For Smoking (2006) - Senator Ortolan K. Finisterre
Doogal (2006) - Brian the snail
The Wool Cap (2005) - Gigot
Sahara (2005) - Admiral James Sandecker
Spartan (2004) - Stoddard
Cellular (2004) - Mooney
Seabiscuit (2003) - Tick Tock McGlaughlin
The Cooler (2003) - Bernie Lootz
Door to Door (2002) - Bill Porter
Jurassic Park III (2001) - Paul Kirby
State and Main (2000) - Walt Price
Magnolia (1999) - Quiz Kid Donnie Smith
Mystery Men (1999) - The Shoveller
Happy, Texas (1999) - Sheriff Chappy Dent
Psycho (1998) - Milton Arbogast
Pleasantville (1998) - George Parker
Wag the Dog (1997) - CIA Agent Charles Young
Boogie Nights (1997) - Little Bill
Air Force One (1997) - Major Caldwell
Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) - Charlie Crisco
Down Periscope (1996) - Commander Carl Knox (USS Orlando)
Fargo (1996) - Jerry Lundegaard
Mr. Holland's Opus (1995) - Vice Principal Gene Wolters
ER (1994-1998) - Dr. David Morgenstern
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) - Tunafish Father
Benny & Joon (1993) - Randy Burch
The Boy Who Loved Trolls (1987) - Socrates - under the name W.H. Macy
