Bruce Campbell

Biography: The youngest of three boys, Bruce Campbell wanted to be an actor as young as eight-years-old after witnessing his dad's enjoyment while performing in local community theater . Eventually, he followed his father's footsteps into the acting profession by performing in local community theater. He began his professional acting career by playing the King in a production of the "King and I" at 14. He appeared in several more Community theater productions including "South Pacific" and "Sweet Bird of Youth". During the beginning of his acting career he began making Super-8 movies with a friend. After consoling each other after awful pantomime routines in Bruce became fast friends with Sam Raimi in 1975. They went on to make quite a few Super-8 movies together for fun. In 1976, Bruce became a volunteer apprentice at Traverse City's Cherry County Playhouse in northern Michigan working long hours behind the scenes on the playhouse's productions from erecting sets, assistant stage manager to errand boy. After only approximately six months at Western Michigan University, Bruce dropped out to pursue a career in film-making. He went to work as a production assistant for a commercial-making firm in Detroit. In 1979, together with buddy Sam Raimi and new pal Rob Tapert, Bruce helped create a Super-8 short film called "Within The Woods". This short film, which would later be made into the full-length film "The Evil Dead", was used to solicit funds from investors so they could make "The Evil Dead". They managed to raise $350,000, with Bruce starring in and Co-Executive producing the film as well. "The Evil Dead" became a cult favorite and was the best-selling video in England in 1983. It was sent to the Cannes Film Festival, where it was noticed and complimented by Stephen King. New Line Cinema released the film in the U.S. shortly thereafter. Following this film was "Crime Wave", which was co-written by Sam Raimi & Ethan and Joel Coen. Dino DeLaurentis produced "The Evil Dead II", the sequel to "The Evil Dead" for $3.5 million. Bruce moved to Los Angeles after this and starred in several lower-budget movies, such as "Moontrap" and "Maniac Cop". He met and married his second wife, costume designer Ida Gearon, on the set of "Mindwarp" in 1990. After his own well-done, but under-viewed series, "The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr." died a quick death after a short season, Bruce then began a series of memorable guest-starring roles on popular TV shows, such as "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman", "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and "Xena: Warrior Princess". He continues to appear in movies whenever he can, such as "Congo", "Gold Rush!", "Escape From L.A." and "McHale's Navy". He has also loaned his voice to several CD-Rom adventure games, like "Pitfall 3-D". His interests lately have turned to directing, which he has done for shows like "V.I.P." as well as several others. His latest projects include five different movies he's a part of, including the long awaited "Spider-Man". His new autobiography, "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a 'B' Movie Actor" hits book stores the week of June 11-18, 2001.… Expand