William Hall Macy, Jr. was born on March 13, 1950 in Miami, Florida. His father was a World War II veteran and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for flying a B-17 bomber. His mother, Lois, married Macy's father after her first husband died during the war. Macy has one half-brother, Fred Merrill, from his mom's first marriage.
In High School Macy was the Junior and Senior class president. Macy graduated from Allegany High School in Cumberland, Maryland. William then enrolled at Bethany College of West Virginia studying veterinary medicine. He realized that he was not meant to be a student and transferred to Goddard College studying theatre. It was there that he met playwright, David Mamet.
After Macy graduated in 1971, he moved to Chicago, Illinois and worked as a bartender to make ends meet. One year later, Macy, Mamet, and several other theatre enthusiasts founded the St. Nicholas Theater Company. Through the company, Macy starred in a number of plays written by Mamet.
William then bounced around between Los Angeles and New York City throughout the late 1970's and finally settled in New York City in 1980. While in New York, Macy earned roles in over 50 Broadway and off-Broadway plays.
Macy's first on-screen role was the direct to video movie, The Boy Who Loved Trolls (1984). He also continued to appear in films that were written and directed by Mamet including House of Games (1987), Things Change (1988), Homicide (1991), Oleanna (1994), Wag the Dog (1997), and State and Main (2000).
William is perhaps best known for his role in Fargo (1996) co-starring Frances McDormand and Steve Buscemi. The film gave his career a boost into overdrive and also earned him an Academy Award nomination.
Other films he has been a part of include Boogie Nights (1997), co-starring Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, and Heather Graham. Originally, Macy's agent tried to discourage him from reading the part but Macy read it anyway, loved it, and signed on to the film.
Macy and Mamet founded a second theatre group together, called The Atlantic Theater Company, based in New York City. Macy remains the director-in-residence and also teaches specializing in a technique called practical aesthetics.
One of his students at the theater group was Felicity Huffman. Macy and Huffman married in 1997. The couple has two children, Sofia Grace, born in 2000, and Georgia Grace, born in 2002. They have a home in Los Angeles and a cabin in Vermont.
A popular nickname for Huffman and Macy is Filliam H. Muffman. Both are known for their liberal leanings in politics and showed support for John Kerry during the 2004 election.
William added writer to his resume in 2003 when he co-wrote the screenplay and starred in the made-for-TV movie, Door-to-Door.
The film was about the true story of Bill Porter, who was a door-to-door salesman in Oregon. Bill was also born with cerebral palsy. He earned two Emmy awards for the film, one as the writer and the other as star. Following the film, Macy became the spokesperson for the organization, United Cerebral Palsy.
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