William H. Macy Biography

Early Life and Education of William H. Macy

William H. Macy was born William Hall Macy Jr. on 13th March 1950 in Miami, Florida, California under the birth sign Pisces. Macy is American as per nationality, and as far as his ethnicity is concerned, he is White. He is the son of William Hall Macy, Sr. (fly a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber in World War II) and Lois (a war widow and second wife of Macy’s father). He also has a half-brother, Fred Merrill Jr.

In 1968, he graduated from Allegany High School in Maryland. Macy then attended Bethany College and later shifted to Goddard College where he studied under David Mamet.

Before appearing on the big screen, Macy appeared in several commercials, and various Off-Broadway and Broadway plays. He also worked as a bartender to afford himself and his expenses.

William H. Macy's Career

Acting Career

William H. Macy made his Hollywood debut from the TV series, The Awakening Land in 1978 opposite Elizabeth Montgomery, Jane Seymour, and Hal Holbrook. In 1980, he made movie debut from Foolin’Around. 

The 1996 movie Fargo was the turning point of Macy’s career. The film helped him to boost his career up a notch. He appeared in the movie with Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, Harve Presnell, Kristin Rudrud and John Carroll Lynch among others.

 Macy worked in several other movies and TV series including The Last Dragon (1885), Being Human (1993), Hit Me (1996), Air Force One (1997), Superman: The Animated Series (1998), Batman Beyond (1999), Door to Door (2002) and The Simpsons (2006) among others.

In the summer of 2010, Macy joined the cast of Shameless with Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Allen White, Cameron Monaghan, Shanola Hampton, Emmy Kenny, Ethan Cutkosky, Steve Howey and Isidora Goreshter among others.

Directional Career

William H. Macy made directorial debut from the independent drama Rudderless starring Selena Gomez, Billy Crudup, Anton Yelchin, Felicity Huffman, Laurence Fishburne, Jamie Chung, and Casey Twenter.

As of 2017, Macy is directing two movies like The Layover (starring- Kate Upton, Alexandra Daddario, Matt Barr, Kal Penn, Rob Corddry, and Molly Shannon among others) and Krystal (featuring- Nick Robinson, Rosario Dawson, Kathy Bates, John Leguizamo and William Fletcher among others).

Awards and Nominations

Macy received many prestigious awards for his work in many series and movies which include:

• 1997 = Independent Spirit Award for Fargo.
• 1998 = Boston Society of Film Critics Awards for A Civil Action, Pleasantville, and Psycho.
• 1998 = Florida Film Critics Circle Awards for Boogie Nights.
• 1999 = National Board of Review for Magnolia.
• 2000 = Florida Film Critics Awards for Magonila.
• 2000 = National Board of Review Awards for State and Main.
• 2000 = Satellite Awards for A Slight Case of A Slight Case of Murder and Happy, Texas.
• 2001 = Florida Film Critics Circle Awards and Online Film Critics Society Awards for State and Main.
• 2003 = Primetime Emmy Awards, Satellite Awards and Screen Actors Guild Actors Awards for Door to Door.
• 2005 = Satellite Awards for Stealing Sinatra.
• 2006 = Hollywood Film Festival for Bobby.
• 2012 = Prism Awards for Shameless.
• 2016 = Screen Actors Guild Awards for Shameless.

Apart from this, Macy also won nominations for several other awards like Golden Globe Awards, Academy Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, American Comedy Awards, and Primetime Emmy Awards among others.

William H. Macy's Personal Life

William H. Macy tied the knot with his longtime girlfriend, Felicity Huffman, an actress. The couple fell in love at first sight with each other after meeting at New York City’s Atlantic Theater Company.

The pair dated each other for almost 15 years and had an on-off relationship. Macy proposed several times to Huffman but refused only because of her commitment issues. Finally, on 6th September 1997, they married in an intimate ceremony in the presence of limited guests.

Facing many ups and downs in their relationship, they are now happy and is known as one of the happiest couples in Hollywood.

Before this, Macy was married to Carla Santos Shamberg at the initial phase of his career in 1980. But the relationship between them lasted for 5 years and divorced in 1985 due to some unknown reasons.

Apart from this, Macy is a proud father of his three children, William H. Macy III from his first marriage and other two, Sophia Grace and Georgia Grace from the second marriage.

Besides these, Macy described himself as "sort of a Middle American, WASPy, Lutheran kind of guy... Everyman."

William H. Macy's Net Worth

William H. Macy, 67, has the height of 5 feet 8 inches (1.73m). Macy who debuted in acting from various commercials and theater, as of now has an estimated net worth of $25 million. He earns $35k per episode from the Showtime series, Shameless. 

The versatile actor, Macy made a huge amount of money from his movies. Some of them that collected a good amount at the box office include:

• Somewhere in Time = $9.7 million
• The Last Dragon = $25.7 million
• The Client = $117,615, 211
• Mr. Holland = $106,269,971
• Fargo = $60.6 million
• Down Periscope = $37,553,752
• Air Force One = $315.2 million
• Boogie Night = $43.1 million
• Wag the Dog = $64.3 million
• Magnolia = $48.5 million
• Jurassic Park III = $368.8 million
• The Cooler = $10,464,788
• Seabiscuit = $148.3 million
• Cellular = $56.4 million
• Wild Hogs = $253.6 million
• The Tale of Despereaux = $86.9 million
• Marmaduke = $83.8 million
• The Lincoln Lawyer = $87.1 million
• The Sessions = $9,138,338
• The Wind Rises = $136.5 million

Macy sold a house in Basalt in 2015 for $3.95 million which he bought for $4.25 million.

In 2013, he again bought a house in LA, California for $3800k which he now rented for $19500 per month. Macy also owned Audi A6, price ranging from $49700 to $71900.