Billy Bob Thornton was a character actor and sometime screenwriter who took Hollywood by storm in 1996 with Sling Blade, a movie he wrote, directed and starred in. Thornton had appeared in several television shows and low budget movies in the 1980s, and in 1991 earned critical praise for the script of the movie One False Move (co-written with his partner, Tom Epperson). After the success of Sling Blade Thornton moved into bigger budget movies such as Primary Colors (1998, with John Travolta) and Armageddon (1998, with Bruce Willis), and stayed busy on both sides of the camera. He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in A Simple Plan (1998, directed by Sam Raimi), he co-wrote the screenplay for The Gift (2000, with Cate Blanchett) and he directed Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz in the 2000 feature All The Pretty Horses. In 2001 he teamed again with Willis and Blanchett in the comedy Bandits.

Extra credit: Thornton was married to Angelina Jolie from 2000 to 2003.