Bio
Bruce Campbell is an American actor, producer, writer and director best known for his starring role as Ash in the Evil Dead trilogy of horror/slapstick movies, and has since become a B-movie icon.
In 1979 with his Detroit friends, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, Campbell raised $350,000 for a low-budget film, Evil Dead, in which he starred and co-executive produced.
Completed piecemeal over four years, the film first gained notoriety in England where it became the best-selling video of 1983, beating out The Shining.
After its appearance at Cannes, where Stephen King dubbed it the most ferociously original horror film of the year, New Line Cinema stepped forward to release Evil Dead in the U.S.
After co-producing Crimewave, a cross-genre comedy written by Sam Raimi, Ethan and Joel Coen, Campbell moved to Los Angeles and quickly gained a foothold producing or starring in genre films such as the Maniac Cop series, Lunatics: A Love Story, Moontrap and Mindwar, a post-apocalyptic Jeremiah Johnson, during which he met his wife-to-be, filmmaker Ida Gearon.
Campbell then rejoined his Detroit colleagues to star and co-produce the second and third films in the Evil Dead trilogy, completing 12 years of work on the cult favourite.
This rough-and-tumble background was a plus as Campbell made his foray into television, first starring in the highly touted Fox series The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr., then as a recurring guest-star on the hit show Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
With these under his belt, Bruce made the transition to director, helming numerous episodes and recurring as the King of Thieves in the #1 syndicated Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and its follow-up phenomenon, Xena: Warrior Princess.
He has since expanded his range on television, with appearances in Disney's TV movies Gold Rush, and their update of The Love Bug. He teamed up with Fox again for the hit TV film Tornado!, and starred in NBC's top-rated In The Line of Duty: Blaze of Glory.
At the invitation of ABC, Campbell ventured into the world of sitcoms with a recurring role on the Emmy-nominated Ellen, participating in one of the three Out episodes.
Following dramatic turns on Homicide and X-Files, he enjoyed a recurring role on Showtime's edgy TV industry comedy, Beggars and Choosers.
But Campbell didn't abandon his film roots. During that time, he had featured roles in the blockbuster Congo, John Carpenter's Escape From LA, and the award-winning independent crime drama, Running Time.
Bruce followed these up with roles in Paramount's romantic comedy, Serving Sara, Jim Carrey's The Majestic, and Sam Raimi's blockbuster Spider-Man series.
After a return to episodic television in the swashbuckling series Jack of All Trades, Campbell took the title role in MGM's cult sleeper Bubba Ho-Hep.
He played the role of a former special ops Cold Warrior named Sam Axe who has devoted his post-conflict years to drinking and having as much sex on the beach as he can in the spy series Burn Notice, from 2007-2013.
His directorial debut, Man with the Screaming Brain recently premiered on the Sci Fi Channel, and Dark Horse Comics published the comic adaptation.
Campbell's more recent films include the Disney hit, Sky High, MGM's thriller The Woods, and A&E's Touch the Top of the World, an inspiring true story about the first blind person to climb Mt. Everest.
Recently, Campbell made the leap into other forms of entertainment, and is enjoying his new role as an author with back-to-back New York Times bestsellers: a memoir entitled If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor, and his first novel, Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way.
In the multi-media industry, Campbell provided voices on cutting edge video games for Activision, THQ and Nova Logic - and he also enjoyed voicing characters for Disney's animated TV series Tarzan and the Warner Brothers feature The Ant Bully.
Campbell continues to share his filmmaking experience, lecturing at universities, which include Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon and Stanford.
He currently resides with his wife, Ida Gearon, in Oregon.