The Unique Talents of Billy Bob Thornton

Over the past four decades, Billy Bob Thornton has acted in a long list of films such as "Sling Blade," "Monster's Ball" and "Bad Santa," just to name a few. He's known for often playing quirky, off-beat characters and making them stand out in a way that leaves viewers reflecting on the film long after they leave the theater.

His ability to bring some of those more "unique" characters to life often surprises people who meet him for the first time.

"I've actually had people come up to me in a mall and say, 'I can't believe you're so nice,'" Thornton tells Next Avenue. He laughs, then adds, "I tell them when I do those movies, I'm just playing a character."

His latest starring role, for which he was just nominated for a Golden Globe, is that of Tommy Norris in Taylor Sheridan's new Paramount+ series "Landman." (Sheridan is the creator of "Yellowstone," "Tulsa King," "Mayor of Kingstown" and others). The show, set in West Texas, focuses on the billion-dollar oil industry and everything surrounding it, from the wealthy business owners to the roughneck workers in the field to the families and the lifestyles behind both. Thornton is the man in the middle. He secures the land for drilling and works to balance the people on all sides of a sometimes very dangerous business.

As his character notes in the first episode,"The oil and gas industry makes $3 billion a day in pure profit. And it's only getting bigger."

It's a part Sheridan wrote specifically for Thornton, who loved the role as soon as he saw the first couple of scripts. Thornton says it's beautifully written and delves into a world he wasn't quite aware existed.

"I used to live in Houston, so I knew oil people, but these were mostly oil attorneys. I didn't know the people who worked in the fields. Once I got into this and started learning, wow, some of these guys are felons and ex-cons. They work there because they make $180,000 a year," he says.

Others in the cast include Jon Hamm, Demi Moore and Ali Larter. Even before it aired its first episode in mid-November, "Landman" already had been picked up for a second season.

At 69, and with a string of successful movies behind him, Thornton is at a place in life where he can be selective about the roles he takes.

"I only take parts I think I'm the right guy for," he says. "When I read a script and go, 'Yeah, I can do this better than the next guy,' that's when I do it. It's not that I haven't taken parts that weren't right for me in the past, but I did it when I needed to, because I had a family. I've only done two movies where the money was too good to turn down, and both times I regretted it. Not because it was a bad experience, but because I wasn't the right guy for the role."

Thornton didn't start out with dreams of becoming an actor. The Arkansas-native initially moved to California to pursue music. As a teenager, Thornton learned to play the drums and began traveling as a roadie for other bands, before eventually forming a band of his own. Today, the singer/songwriter and musician is the frontman for The Boxmasters, a group he created with creative partner J.D. Andrew nearly two decades ago. They've recorded 17 albums and just wrapped up a cross-country tour.

"I got into acting late in life, but grew to love it," Thornton says. "In the beginning I was doing it because I was starving to death in L.A. I did little things here and there, like a scene in 'Matlock,' a scene on 'Knots Landing,' things like that. And then I got into writing, especially screenplays, and really grew fond of it."

It turns out he had quite a gift for writing. In 1997, he took home an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Sling Blade," a film he wrote, starred in and directed. Set in Arkansas, it's a story about a mentally challenged man sent to a mental hospital for killing his mother and her boyfriend. Upon his release, he befriends a young boy and his mother.

Writing screenplays and acting are things Thornton pursued on his own, without any formal training. He's discovered strong writing comes from mining your own life.

"People ask me about my writing process, and I say it started when I was born because I was raised in abject poverty in Arkansas in a tiny little place. My grandmother told stories on the porch, and I shelled peas and beans with her and her friends. They would tell stories and I would listen. The South is rich in storytelling."

Acting has come naturally to Thornton. When young actors ask his advice, he tells them instead of seeing a character as some remote person separate from yourself, tap into what you have inside.

"I'm known for playing all kinds of different people. Looking different, gaining weight, losing weight, all those different things. And I've never used a prosthetic. People thought I did in "Sling Blade," but I didn't," he says. "It doesn't matter what part you're playing, if you start trying to learn things about the character, you're already behind the eight ball. What you do is you play yourself in every one of them."

He says it's simpler than it sounds.

"The strongest work you're ever going to do is what you feel in your soul. I've never been a murderer, but I've played one. And if I 'were one', it would kind of be like that. You know what I mean," he asks with a laugh.

These days, Thornton enjoys balancing his life between acting, music and his family. He's been quite open and often joked through the years about his many marriages. (He's been married six times, including a high-profile marriage to Angelina Jolie.) But for more than two decades, he's been happily partnered with Connie Angland (they married in 2014). The two share a 20-year-old daughter named Bella.

Thornton says life is good.

"I'm looking forward to doing another season of 'Landman.' Then J.D. and I will go back into the studio, make another record, then go on tour again next year. And the rest of the time I'm just home with Connie and Bella," he says.

Pam Windsor is a freelance feature, travel and entertainment writer. She currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

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