Biography

William Forsythe

by Maggie Cage,

American actor, William Forsythe is a well-known actor, noticeable for his gangster types and tough guy roles in several films particularly, Raising Arizona, Once Upon a Time in America, Out For Justice, Dick Tracy, Stone Cold, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, The Devil's Rejects and so on.

Often presumed to be related to the 60's and 70's drama king, John Forsythe, the actor has several credits on television as well. Known for his role as "Al Capone" in the TV series The Untouchables, the actor was once happily married. He was married to actress Melody Munyan and shares three daughters, Rebecca Forsythe, Chloe Merritt, and Angelica Forsythe.

In 1993, Forsythe was nominated for Independent Spirit Awards under Best Supporting Male for the movie The Waterdance (1992).

William Forsythe's Early Life And Education

William Forsythe was born on 7th June 1955 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, U.S. He is American and belongs to mixed ethnicity (Scottish, English, Italian, Irish, and German).

As per some sources, his parental grandmother’s name is Addis Irene, and grandfather’s name is Johnny William Forsythe. His maternal grandmother’s name is Dorothy King and grandfather is Anthony Castellano.

Forsythe went to South Shore High School. During his childhood days, he developed his skill towards acting and studied acting at The Beverly Hills Playhouse. The actor, however, never fully considered acting as his major pa s sion back in those days. His teacher forcefully made him play "Caesar" in a school production of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar that inspired him to perform and act.

He began acting at the age of 10 and started enjoying performing on stage and other theatrical works.

William Forsythe's Career

William Forsythe began acting in local productions in his early teens, eventually landing roles on and off-Broadway. He then played iconic roles in the number of movies as well as a television series.

Forsythe made his acting debut with 1979 shot movie, Long Shot as Bille. He then starred in 1981 American drama film, King of the Mountain as Big Tom.

Afterward, Forsythe made his appearances in the number of movies and the list is given below:

year   Movie Role Starring
1984   Once Upon a Time in America Philip 'Cockeye' Stein Robert De Niro
James Woods
Elizabeth McGovern
Joe Pesci
1987   Raising Arizona  Evelle Nicolas Cage
Holly Hunter
Trey Wilson
John Goodman
1999   Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo Detective Chuck Fowler Richard Riehle
Eddie Griffin
Arija Bareikis
Oded Fehr
2005   The L.A. Riot Spectacular George Holliday Emilio Estevez
Snoop Dogg
T.K. Carter
Charles S. Dutton
2010    Dear Mr. Gacy John Wayne Gacy Jesse Moss
Emma Lahana
Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman
Patrick Gilmore
2018   The Little Mermaid - Poppy Drayton
Loreto Peralta
Armando Gutierrez
Shirley MacLaine

William Forsythe also worked in various popular television series. In 1981, he starred in an American made-for-television drama film, The Miracle of Kathy Miller as Mark. Some of his television credits include:

Year  Television series Role

Cast member

1988 Baja Oklahoma Tommy Earl Browner  Willie Nelson
Lesley Ann Warren
Peter Coyote
Swoosie Kurtz
1992 Cruel Doubt Police Chief John Crone Blythe Danner
Matt McGrath
Ed Asner
Adam Baldwin
1997 First Time Felon Sorley Omar Epps
Delroy Lindo
Lucinda Jerney
Rachel Ticotin
2002 John Doe Digger Dominic Purcell
John Marshall Jones
Jayne Brook
Sprague Grayden
2011-2013 Boardwalk Empire Manny Horvitz Steve Buscemi
Michael Pitt
Kelly Macdonald
Michael Shannon
2015-2017 Hawaii Five-0 Harry Brown Alex O'Loughlin
Scott Caan
Daniel Dae Kim
Grace Park
2016 Daredevil Dutton Charlie Cox
Deborah Ann Woll
Elden Henson
Toby Leonard Moore
2017 Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders Oleg Antakov / Ripper of Riga
References
Gary Sinise
Alana de la Garza
Daniel Henney
Tyler James Williams

His dominating and unlikeable characters have truly made him a dynamic entertainer in the industry. He has stated that his personal favorite role is Burt the Booster in 1987 movie, Weeds.

William Forsythe's Net worth

William Forsythe has an estimated net worth of $8 million. He has been in the industry since the 1970s and has given some ma s sive hits during his career. Some of his hit movies, which made a good collection at the box office are listed below:

Movie Budget  Box office collection IMDB rating  Starring 
Raising Arizona (1987) $6 million (estimate) $29.2 million 7.4/10

Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter
Trey Wilson
John Goodman

Extreme Prejudice (1987) $22 million $11,307,844
90,307 admissions (France)
6.6/10 Nick Nolte
Powers Boothe
María Conchita Alonso
Rip Torn
Dick Tracy (1990) $46 million $162.7 million  6.1/10 Warren Beatty
Al Pacino
Madonna
Glenne Headly
Out for Justice (1991) $14 million  $39,673,161 6.1/10 Steven Seagal
Gina Gershon
Jerry Orbach
Jo Champa
 The Rock (1996) $75 million $335.1 million  7.4/10 Sean Connery
Nicolas Cage
Ed Harris
Michael Biehn
Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999) $17 million $92.9 million 5.7/10 Rob Schneider
Oded Fehr
Eddie Griffin
Arija Bareikis
Blue Streak(1999) $36 million  $117.7 million 6.3/10 Martin Lawrence
Luke Wilson
Dave Chappelle
Peter Greene
The Devil's Rejects(2005) $7 million  $19.4 million 6.9/10  Sid Haig
Bill Moseley
Sheri Moon Zombie
Ken Foree
Halloween(2007) $15 million $80.2 million 7.8/10  Malcolm McDowell
Sheri Moon Zombie
Tyler Mane
Scout Taylor-Compton

Not only this, he earned a huge sum from his work in one of the hit period drama series, Boardwalk Empire which received 8.6 ratings out of 10 in IMDB.

William Forsythe's Personal life 

William Forsythe is possibly single at present. He was previously married to his first wife Melody Mundon. The former couple is blessed with three daughters together: Rebecca, born in 1990, Angelica, born in 1992 and Chloe, born in 1993.

The pair, however, failed to sustain their marriage & parted ways, after few years of marriage. Ever since he's not been linked to any of the co-stars or secret girlfriends.

Forsythe is pa s sionate about acting and he's always loved what he does. In an interview, he revealed how he tries to create a character every time and put life on it. He's a huge fan of Marlon Brando and growing up he became obsessed over him. He also loves  Deep Impact star Rober Duvall and considers him the best American actor. Aside from acting and performing, he likes reading and meditation.  

Here, we present the video of William Forsythe's interview at Late Night With Johnny P. Enjoy watching!