Bruce Campbell is an American actor, writer, comedian, producer, and director, widely known for his role as Ash Williams in the horror franchise, The Evil Dead. He has also featured in several other movies and television since the late 1970s.
Campbell’s directing prowess became a reality, starting with the movies such as Fanalysis (2002), Community Speaks (2004), Man with the Screaming Brain (2005), My Name Is Bruce (2007), and several others.
In 2016, Bruce Campbell won two awards for the Best Actor on Television, including the Fangoria Chainsaw Award and Saturn Awards. He continues to work on movies and has written his autobiography titled: If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor.
Bruce Campbell Biography
Bruce Lorne Campbell was born on June 22, 1958, in Royal Oak, Michigan to parents Joanne Louise (mom) and Charles Newton Campbell (dad) who is an amateur actor and traveling billboard inspector. He is of Scottish descent and the youngest of two siblings; he has an older brother named Don and an older half-brother named Michael Rendine.
He is an alumnus of Wylie E. Groves High School where he took interest in acting. Campbell went on to pursue a degree at Western Michigan University and retained his passion for the entertainment world.
Bruce Campbell’s career in the movie industry dates back to 1976 when he started acting at a young age. At the time, he was making short movies with friends but his friendship with Sam Raimi during their days in high school marked the beginning of his journey towards a successful career in entertainment.
His collaboration with Raimi led to the creation of a half-hour Super 8 version of the first Evil Dead film titled Within the Woods. The duo got back together, after a few years to work on The Evil Dead in which Campbell starred in, as well as worked as a co-executive producer. It wasn’t until four years after the original release of the horror film that it became the number one and most-watched movie in the UK.
The film also gained distribution in the United States, leading to the creation of two sequels: Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness. Campbell’s character as Ash Williams was also drawn in the Marvel Zombie comics, and in all the series of Marvel Zombies vs Army of Darkness.
Aside from The Evil Dead series, Campbell has made appearances in many of Raimi’s films such as the SpiderMan film series; Darkman; Bubba Ho-Tep in which he played the role of Elvis Presley; Maniac Cop and Maniac Cop 2.
Campbell spoofed his career in the self-directed My Name is Bruce, as he continued to feature in other mainstream films like The Hudsucker Proxy (1994); Escape from L.A. (1995); Timequest (2000); The Majestic (2001), Congo (1995); Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)…etc.
On television series, the veteran actor starred in Jack of All Trades (2000), The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr, Ellen (1996-1997), Xena: Warrior Princess (1997-1999), Beggars and Choosers (2001). Campbell also takes credit for directing the directed a number of episodes of Hercules and Xena, as well as the Hercules series finale.
Bruce Campbell is having a repetition of his role as Ashley “Ash” Williams in Ash vs Evil Dead, the series that launched his acting career. The film began airing on Starz on October 31, 2015, followed by renewal by the cable channel for the second and third seasons.
He has lent his voice as Ash in several video games based on the horror series including Evil Dead: A Fistful of Boomstick, Evil Dead: Hail to the King, and Evil Dead: Regeneration. Others include The Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man: The Movie, Spider-Man 2&3, and Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle.
Beyond his career in Hollywood, Bruce Campbell is an ordained minister and has officiated weddings for couples.
Net Worth
Campbell’s career for the past decades has not only brought him fame and the love of millions of fans, but it also made him super-rich. His net worth is estimated at $10 million. Certainly, as he gets involved with more works, his net worth will certainly keep rising.
Wife
The actor is married to Ida Gearon, a costume designer, whom he met on a movie set titled Mindwarp. The couple has been together since 1991 and lives in Jacksonville, Oregon. Campbell and his first wife Christine Deveau had two children, Rebecca and Andy before separating in after six years of marriage (1983-1989) of marriage.
Other Interesting Facts
1. He stands at a tall height of 6 feet 1 inch and weighs about 80 kg.
2. Bruce go by the nickname The Chin B-Movie Bruce.
3. To bolster his career, Campbell moved to Los Angeles and quickly gained a foothold in movie productions and starring in genre films.
4. He has been running the Bruce Campbell Horror Film Festival since 2014, the first of which ran for five days (August 21 to 25, 2014), followed by the second (August 20 to 23, 2015) and the third (August 2016).
5. From 1976 to 2018, he has worked in more than a hundred movies as the main character, supporting or work behind the camera.
6. During one of his interviews, the Evil Dead actor, whose character as “Ash Williams” was retired in 2018, revealed that it was during the original Evil Dead that he smoked marijuana for the first time and probably his last.
