| Bruce Campbell | |
| Birth Name: | Bruce Lorne Campbell |
| Birth Date: | 22 June 1958 |
| Birth Place: | Royal Oak, Michigan, U.S. |
| Years Active: | 1972–present |
| Children: | 2 |
Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known best for his role as Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead horror series, beginning with the short movie Within the Woods (1978). He has also featured in many low-budget cult movies such as Crimewave (1985), Maniac Cop (1988), (1989), and Bubba Ho-Tep (2002).
Campbell had the main roles of the television series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993–1994) and Jack of All Trades (2000), and a recurring role as Autolycus, King of Thieves in (1995–1999) and (1995–1999). He played Sam Axe on the USA Network series Burn Notice (2007–2013) and reprised his role as Ash for the Starz series Ash vs. Evil Dead (2015–2018). He also appeared in The Escort (2015).
Campbell directed, produced, and featured in the documentaries Fanalysis (2002) and A Community Speaks (2004); co-wrote, directed, produced, and featured in the movie Man with the Screaming Brain (2005); and directed, produced, and featured in a parody of his career My Name Is Bruce (2007).
Campbell is known for frequent collaborations with the aforementioned Raimi, his brother Ted, Josh Becker, and Scott Spiegel.
Bruce Lorne Campbell[1] was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, on June 22, 1958,[2] the son of advertising executive and college professor Charles Newton Campbell and homemaker Joanne Louise (née Pickens).[3] He is of English and Scottish ancestry, and has an older brother named Don and an older half-brother named Michael.[4] His father was also an actor and director for local theater. Campbell began acting and making short Super 8 movies with friends as a teenager. After meeting future moviemaker Sam Raimi while the two attended Wylie E. Groves High School, they became good friends and collaborators. Campbell attended Western Michigan University and continued to pursue an acting career.[5]
Campbell and Raimi collaborated with a 30-minute Super 8 version of the first Evil Dead movie, titled Within the Woods (1978), which was initially used to attract investors.[6] He and Raimi got together with family and friends to begin working on The Evil Dead (1981). While featuring as the protagonist, Campbell also participation with the production of the movie, receiving a co-executive producer credit. Raimi wrote, directed, and edited the movie, while Rob Tapert produced. After an endorsement by horror author Stephen King, the movie slowly began to receive attention and offers for distribution.[7] Four years after its original release, it became the most popular movie in the UK. It was then distributed in the United States, resulting in the sequels Evil Dead II (1987) and Army of Darkness (1992).[8]
Campbell 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 them, he fights alongside the Marvel heroes against the heroes and people who have become zombies (deadites) while in search of the Necronomicon (Book of the Names of the Dead).[9] Campbell also played as Coach Boomer in the movie “Sky High”.
He has appeared in several of Raimi's movies other than the Evil Dead series, notably having cameo appearances in the director's Spider-Man film series.[10] Campbell also joined the cast of Raimi's movie Darkman[11] and The Quick and the Dead, though having no actual screen time in the latter movie's theatrical version.[12] In March 2022, Campbell was announced to have a cameo in Raimi's Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.[13]
Campbell often performs quirky roles, such as Elvis Presley for the movie Bubba Ho-Tep.[14] Along with Bubba Ho-Tep, he played a supporting role in Maniac Cop and Maniac Cop 2, and spoofed his career in the self-directed My Name is Bruce.[15]
Other mainstream movies for Campbell include supporting or featured roles in the Coen Brothers movie The Hudsucker Proxy, the Michael Crichton adaptation Congo, the movie 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 movie Sky High.[16]
Campbell had a major voice role for the 2009 animated adaptation of the children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and a supporting voice role for Pixar's Cars 2.[17]
Campbell produced the 2013 remake of The Evil Dead, along with Raimi and Rob Tapert, appearing in the movie's post-credits scene in a cameo role with the expectation he would reprise that role in Army of Darkness 2.[18] The next year, the comedy metal band Psychostick released a song titled "Bruce Campbell" on their album that pays a comedic tribute to his past roles.
Campbell worked as an executive producer for the 2023 movie Evil Dead Rise.[19]
Other than cinema, Campbell has appeared in a number of television series. He featured in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. a boisterous science fiction comedy western created by Jeffrey Boam and Carlton Cuse that played for one season.[20] He played a lawyer turned bounty hunter who was trying to hunt down John Bly, the man who killed his father. He featured 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.[21] The show was broadcast 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 .[22]
From 1996 to 1997, Campbell was a recurring guest actor of the television series Ellen as Ed Billik, who becomes Ellen's boss when she sells her bookstore in season four.[23]
He is also known for his supporting role as the recurring character Autolycus ("King of Thieves") on both and , which reunited him with producer Rob Tapert.[24] 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.[25]
Campbell also obtained the main role of race car driver Hank Cooper for the Disney made-for-television remake of The Love Bug.[26]
Campbell had 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 . Campbell later played the part of a bigamous demon in The X-Files episode "Terms of Endearment".[27] He also featured 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-featured in the television series Burn Notice, which was broadcast from 2007 to 2013 by USA Network. He portrayed Sam Axe, a beer-chugging, 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 undercover, his character frequently used the alias Chuck Finley, which Bruce later revealed was the name of one of his father's old co-workers.[28] Campbell was the star of a 2011 Burn Notice made-for-television prequel focusing on Sam's Navy SEAL career, titled .[29]
In 2014, Campbell played Santa Claus for an episode of The Librarians. Campbell played Ronald Reagan in season 2 of the FX original series Fargo. More recently Campbell reprised his role as Ashley "Ash" Williams in Ash vs Evil Dead,[30] a series based upon the Evil Dead series that began his career. Ash vs Evil Dead began airing on Starz on October 31, 2015, and was renewed by the cable channel for second[31] and third seasons,[32] before being cancelled.[33]
In January 2019, Travel Channel announced a new version of the Ripley's Believe It or Not! reality series, with Campbell serving as host and executive producer. The 10-episode season debuted on June 9, 2019.[34]
Campbell is featured as a voice actor for several video games. He provides the voice of Ash in the four games based on the Evil Dead movies series: , , and .[35] He has expressed his intent to return to the role in an upcoming Evil Dead animated series.[36] [37] He also provided the voice of Ash in Dead by Daylight.[38] 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.[39]
Campbell also provided voice talent in other titles such as , Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, and The Amazing Spider-Man.[40]
He provided the voice of main character Jake Logan for the PC game, , the voice of main character Jake Burton for the PlayStation game Broken Helix and the voice of Magnanimous for Megas XLR. Campbell voiced the pulp adventurer Lobster Johnson in 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 for the 2009 movie Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, the voice of Rod "Torque" Redline in Cars 2, the voice of Himcules in the 2003 Nickelodeon TV series My Life as a Teenage Robot, and the voice of Fugax in the 2006 movie The Ant Bully.
He has a voice in the online MOBA game, Tome: Immortal Arena in 2014.[41] Campbell also provided voice-over and motion capture for Sgt. Lennox in the Exo Zombies mode of .[42]
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 in June 2001.[43] The autobiography was a successful New York Times Best Seller.[44] It describes Campbell's career to date as an actor in low-budget movies and television, providing his insight into "Blue-Collar Hollywood". The paperback version of the book adds details about the reactions of fans during 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".
Campbell's next book Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way was published on May 26, 2005. The book's plot involves him (depicted in a comical way) as the main character struggling to make it into the world of A-list movies.[45] He later recorded an audio play adaptation of Make Love with fellow Michigan actors, including longtime collaborator Ted Raimi. This radio drama was released by 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.
In late 2016, Campbell announced that he would be releasing a third book, Hail to the Chin: Further Confessions of a B Movie Actor, which will detail his life from where If Chins Could Kill ended. Hail to the Chin was released in August 2017, and accompanied by a book tour across the United States and Europe.[46]
Campbell maintained a weblog on his official website, where he posted mainly about politics and the movie industry, though it has since been deleted.[47]
Since 2014, the Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival, narrated and organized by Campbell, was held in the Muvico Theater in Rosemont, Illinois. The first festival was originally from August 21 to 25, 2014, presented by Wizard World, as part of the Chicago Comicon.[48] The second festival was from August 20 to 23, 2015, with guests Tom Holland and Eli Roth.[49] The third festival took place over four days in August 2016.[50] Guests of the event were Sam Raimi, Robert Tapert and Doug Benson.[51]
Campbell married Christine Deveau in 1983, and they had two children before divorcing in 1989. He met costume designer Ida Gearon while working on Mindwarp, and they were married in 1991.[52] They reside in Jacksonville, Oregon.
Campbell is also an ordained minister, and has performed marriage ceremonies.[53]
| Denotes works that have not yet been released |
| Year | Film | Role | Director | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | It's Murder! | Cop on Bicycle | Sam Raimi | ||
| 1978 | Within the Woods | Bruce | Sam Raimi | Short film
| |
| Shemp Eats the Moon | Shemp Malone | John Cameron | Short film; also producer | ||
| 1979 | Attack of the Helping Hand | The Hamburger Helper Helping Hand / The Pillsbury Doughboy | Scott Spiegel | Uncredited roles Short film; also cinematographer | |
| 1980 | The Blind Waiter | The Blind Waiter | Josh Becker and Scott Spiegel | Uncredited role Short film | |
| 1981 | The Evil Dead | Ash Williams | Sam Raimi | Also executive producer | |
| 1982 | Cleveland Smith | Josh Becker | Short film | ||
| Blood Simple investor trailer | Julian Marty | Joel and Ethan Coen | Short film | ||
| 1983 | Going Back | Brice Chapman | Ron Teachworth | ||
| 1985 | Crimewave | Renaldo 'The Heel' | Sam Raimi | Also co-producer | |
| Thou Shalt Not Kill... Except | Video newscaster | Josh Becker | Uncredited cameo Also story writer | ||
| 1987 | Evil Dead II | Ash Williams | Sam Raimi | Also co-producer | |
| 1988 | Maniac Cop | Jack Forrest | William Lustig | ||
| 1989 | Intruder | Officer Howard | Scott Spiegel | ||
| Moontrap | Ray Tanner | Robert Dyke | |||
| Easy Wheels | David O'Malley | Producer | |||
| The Dead Next Door | Raimi & Commander Carpenter | J. R. Bookwalter | Voices | ||
| 1990 | Robert Van Helsing | Anthony Hickox | |||
| Maniac Cop 2 | Jack Forrest | William Lustig | |||
| Darkman | Final Shemp | Sam Raimi | Cameo | ||
| 1991 | Ray | Josh Becker | Also producer | ||
| 1992 | Eddie Presley | Asylum Attendant | Jeff Burr | Cameo | |
| John Loftmore | Anthony Hickox | ||||
| Mindwarp | Stover | Steve Barnett | |||
| The Nutt House | Adam Rifkin | Writer | |||
| Army of Darkness | Ash Williams | Sam Raimi | Also co-producer | ||
| 1994 | The Hudsucker Proxy | Smitty | Joel and Ethan Coen | ||
| 1995 | Congo | Charles Travis | Frank Marshall | ||
| The Quick and the Dead | Wedding Shemp | Sam Raimi | Deleted scene | ||
| The Demolitionist | Raffle Winner | Robert Kurtzman | Uncredited cameo | ||
| 1996 | Fargo | Soap opera actor on TV | Joel and Ethan Coen | Uncredited cameo | |
| 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 | Jon Kroll | |||
| Running Time | Carl | Josh Becker | |||
| McHale's Navy | Virgil | Bryan Spicer | |||
| 1998 | The Ice Rink | Actor | Jean-Philippe Toussaint | ||
| 1999 | Barry | Scott Spiegel | Direct-to-DVD | ||
| 2000 | Icebreaker | Carl Greig | David Giancola | ||
| Timequest | William Roberts | Robert Dyke | |||
| 2001 | Hubert's Brain | Thompson | Phil Robinson | Voice Short film | |
| The Majestic | Roland the Intrepid Explorer | Frank Darabont | Cameo | ||
| 2002 | Spider-Man | Ring Announcer | Sam Raimi | Cameo | |
| Hatred of a Minute | Michael Kallio | Producer | |||
| 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 | Uncredited cameo | ||
| 2004 | The Ladykillers | Humane Society Worker | Joel and Ethan Coen | Uncredited cameo | |
| Himself | Mark Hamill | Direct-to-DVD | |||
| A Community Speaks | Himself | Himself & Ida Gearon | Documentary; also producer and editor | ||
| Spider-Man 2 | Snooty Usher | Sam Raimi | Cameo | ||
| 2005 | Man with the Screaming Brain | William Cole | Himself | Also writer and producer | |
| Sky High | Tommy Boomowski / Coach Boomer / Sonic Boom | 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 and Dave Willis | Voice | |
| Spider-Man 3 | Maître d' | Sam Raimi | Cameo | ||
| My Name Is Bruce | Faux Bruce Campbell | Himself | Also producer | ||
| 2009 | Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | Mayor Shelbourne | Phil Lord and Chris Miller | Voice | |
| White on Rice | Muramoto | Dave Boyle | Voice | ||
| 2011 | Cars 2 | Rod "Torque" Redline | John Lasseter and Brad Lewis | Voice | |
| 2012 | The Color of Time | Goody | Various | ||
| 2013 | Oz the Great and Powerful | Winkie Guard | Sam Raimi | Cameo | |
| Evil Dead | Ash Williams | Fede Álvarez | Uncredited cameo; also producer | ||
| 2015 | The Escort | Charles Cooper | Will Slocombe | ||
| 2021 | Black Friday | Jonathan Wexler | Casey Tebo | Also producer | |
| 18½ | President Richard Nixon | Dan Mirvish | Voice | ||
| 2022 | Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness | Pizza Poppa Guy | Sam Raimi | Cameo[54] | |
| 2023 | Evil Dead Rise | Ash Williams[55] [56] | Lee Cronin | Voice; uncredited cameo; also executive producer | |
| Highly Functional | Chili Youngfield | Marc Forby | Post-production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Generations | Alan Stuart | Soap opera | ||
| 1987 | Knots Landing | Joel Benson | Episode: "Say Uncle" | ||
| 1993–1994 | The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. | Brisco County, Jr. | 27 episodes | ||
| 1995 | Bill Church Jr. | 3 episodes | |||
| American Gothic | Lt. Drey | Episode: "Meet the Beetles" | |||
| 1995–1999 | Autolycus | 10 episodes; also directed 7 episodes | |||
| 1996 | Jake Rodzinsky | Episodes: "Justice Parts 1 & 2" | |||
| Tornado! | Jake Thorne | Television film | |||
| Assault on Dome 4 | Alex Windham | Television film | |||
| 1996–1997 | Ellen | Ed Billik | 8 episodes | ||
| 1996–1999 | Autolycus | 8 episodes; also directed 2 episodes | |||
| 1997 | Weird Science | Gene the Genie | Episode: "I Dream of Gene" | ||
| The Love Bug | Hank Cooper | Television film | |||
| Pierce Thomas 'PT' Madison | |||||
| 1998 | Timecop | Agent Tommy Maddox | Episode: "The Future, Jack, the Future" | ||
| 1998–1999 | Rob Tapert | 2 episodes | |||
| 1999 | The X-Files | Wayne Weinsider | Episode: "Terms of Endearment" | ||
| 2000 | Jack of All Trades | Jack Stiles / Daring Dragoon | 22 episodes; also co-executive producer | ||
| 2001 | Beggars and Choosers | Jack | 2 episodes | ||
| The Legend of Tarzan | Max Liebling (voice) | Episode: "Tarzan and One Punch Mullargan" | |||
| 2002 | Charmed | FBI Agent Woody Jackman | Episode: "" | ||
| Terminal Invasion | Jack | Television film | |||
| 2003 | Duck Dodgers | Pork Piggler (voice) | Episode: "K-9 Kaddy/Pig of Action" | ||
| My Life as a Teenage Robot | Himcules (voice) | Episode: "Daydream Believer/This Time with Feeling" | |||
| 2004 | Megas XLR | Magnanimous (voice) | 2 episodes | ||
| 2005 | Alien Apocalypse | Dr. Ivan Hood | Television film | ||
| 2006 | Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! | Captain Shuggazoom (voice) | 2 episodes | ||
| Touch the Top of the World | Ed Weihenmayer | Television film | |||
| Robot Chicken | Himself / Red Power Ranger / Car Chase Reporter (voices) | Episode: "Dragon Nuts" | |||
| 2006–2009 | The Replacements | Phil Mygrave / Gordo Glideright (voices) | 6 episodes | ||
| 2007 | The Industrialist (voice) | Episode: "Burrito's Little Helper/Crouching Tigre, Hidden Dragon" | |||
| 2007–2013 | Burn Notice | Sam Axe | 111 episodes | ||
| 2011 | Television film; also executive producer | ||||
| 2013 | 1600 Penn | Doug Gilchrist | Episode: "Skip the Tour" | ||
| 2014 | Psych | Dr. Ashford N. Simpson | Episode: "A Nightmare on State Street" | ||
| The Librarians | Santa Claus | Episode: "And Santa's Midnight Run" | |||
| 2015 | Last Fan Standing | Presenter | Streaming Amazon Prime 10 episodes | ||
| 2015 | Fargo | Ronald Reagan[57] | 2 episodes | ||
| The Creep (voice) | Episode; "Ball's Well That Friend's Well" | ||||
| 2015–2018 | Ash vs Evil Dead | Ash Williams | 30 episodes; also executive producer[58] | ||
| 2018–2020 | Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure | King Edmund (voice) | 7 episodes | ||
| 2018 | Lodge 49 | Gary Green | 3 episodes | ||
| 2019 | Ripley's Believe It or Not! | Himself (host) | 10 episodes; also executive producer | ||
| 2020–2021 | The Last Kids on Earth | Chef (voice) | 11 episodes | ||
| 2021 | Adopted | John Voss | Unaired pilot | ||
| A.P. Bio | John Griffin | Episode: "Tons of Rue" | |||
| Archer | McGinley (voice) | Episode: "Dingo, Baby, et Cetera" | |||
| One December Night | Steve Bedford | Television film | |||
| 2022 | My Southern Family Christmas | Everett Bergeron | Television film[59] | ||
| 2023 | Impractical Jokers | Himself (guest host) | Episode: "Bruce Campbell" | ||
| 2023 | Discontinued | Himself (host) | Streaming series, 2 episodes as of December 6 | ||
| 2024 | Hysteria | Chief Dandridge | [60] [61] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Broken Helix | Jake Burton | |
| 1998 | Pitfall Harry Jr | ||
| 2000 | Protagonist | ||
| Ash Williams | |||
| 2002 | Spider-Man | Tutorial Narrator | |
| 2003 | Ash Williams | ||
| 2004 | Spider-Man 2 | Tutorial Narrator | |
| 2005 | Ash Williams | ||
| 2006 | The Ant Bully | Fugax | |
| 2007 | Spider-Man 3 | Tutorial Narrator | |
| 2011 | Ash Williams | Game Closed | |
| Cars 2 | Rod "Torque" Redline | ||
| 2012 | The Amazing Spider-Man | The Extreme Reporter | |
| 2014 | TOME: Immortal Arena | Tutorial Narrator | Game Closed |
| 2015 | Lennox | Exo Zombies DLC | |
| 2019 | Dead by Daylight | Ash Williams | Ash vs Evil Dead DLC |
| 2022 | Also producer[62] | ||
| 2023 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II | ||
| Year | Award | Category | Title | 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 | Best Actor | |||
| 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 | |||
| 2017 | Fangoria Chainsaw Award | Best TV Actor | ||
| Saturn Awards | Best Actor on a Television Series | |||
| 2018 | ||||
"Bruce came over to Ireland when we were working on the sound and I asked him if he would do this teeny, tiny, little cameo for me. And the fun part is, that’s not necessarily Bruce Campbell playing someone else – that could very well be Ash Williams."
.