Bruce Willis

Born: 19th March 1955
Where: Idar-Oberstein, Germany

One of the brightest stars in the Hollywood firmament, Willis moved into more thoughtful roles after making the grimy vest of Die Hard's John McClane his own.

Highlights of a varied career include Twelve Monkeys, The Sixth Sense, Bandits and Pulp Fiction as well as Die Hard.

Willis moved to America aged two and worked as a bartender at New York restaurants and nightclubs when he finished school.

In 1980 he got a part in Dennis Watlington's play Bullpen and also made his first screen appearance with a walk on role in The First Deadly Sin.

His breakthrough stage role, which came in 1984, saw him replacing Ed Harris in the Off-Broadway production of Sam Shepard's Fool for Love.

This earned him an audition for Desperately Seeking Susan and, although he didn't get the part.

He remained in Hollywood an extra day and managed to get the part as private investigator David Addison on TV's Moonlighting, opposite Cybill Shepherd.

Bruce is also a keen musician and singer, and released his debut album in 1986, and had a Top Ten hit with Respect Yourself.

It came as a great surprise when Bruce's agent secured him the role in Die Hard along with a £3.5 million pay check, causing outrage in Hollywood that a relatively unknown actor could command such a sum.

As it turned out, his salary proved a bargain as the film spawned a franchise and launched him as an action-hero on par with the likes of Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzennegger.

Bruce's wise-guy machismo worked perfectly for New York policeman John McClane, and he reprised the role in large scale sequels Die Hard II and Die Hard with a Vengeance.

In 1991 Bruce opened the Planet Hollywood Restaurant in New York along with fellow investors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.

Subsequent roles included the lacklustre Bonfire of the Vanities, Hudson Hawk, Billy Bathgate and The Last Boy Scout.

His critical stock rose when Quentin Tarantino cast him as Butch Coolidge in Pulp Fiction and Terry Gilliam selected him for the critical hit Twelve Monkeys.

Subsequent roles included Luc Besson's The Fifth Element, the tepid remake of the Day of the Jackal and the disaster movie Armageddon.

Eschewing the hardman image, in 1999 he was cast as psychologist Malcome Crowe in the chilling The Sixth Sense.

The same year he undertook a role which paralleled his own life in Rob Reiner's comedy-drama The Story of Us, drawing on his own marital difficulties with Demi Moore, who he split up with in 1998.

Then came The Whole Nine Yards and Unbreakable (which saw him reteam with M Night Shyamalan) as well as the underrated Bandits.

In 2001, he stated that he would not make anymore violent movies after the September 11 attack (it didn't stop signing up for Die Hard 4).

A Republican stalwart, the only politician he took against was Bob Dole, who Willis felt maligned his wife's role in Striptease.

He was also the first actor to ever 'act' in a video game providing both the voice and having his movements digitally added to the game Apocalypse.

Hawk-eyed fans may have noticed that he always wears his watch upside down with the face on the inside of his hand.

This trademark is visible in many of his movies (Die Hard with a Vengeance, Mercury Rising, etc.) where they haven't told him to flip it over.

In 2004, he starred in the sequel The Whole Ten Yards and also had a cameo opposite Julia Roberts in the all-star Ocean's 12.

Recent work includes the drama Hostage, the thriller Perfect Stranger and the part of police chief Hartigan in Sin City, Robert Rodriguez's digital realisation of Frank Miller's comic book stories.

He returned to his signature role of Detective John McClane for this year's Die Hard 4.0, a project that had spent much time in development hell, particularly after the World Trade Centre attacks.