Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysHalloween PicksScary Good HorrorHispanic Heritage MonthMAMISTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
  • Biography
  • Awards
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

Willie Nelson(I)

  • Music Artist
  • Actor
  • Composer
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Willie Nelson in The Big Bounce (2004)
Jackie Martling just may be America's last great joke teller. His savant-like ability to remember every joke he's heard since he was 8 years old, combined with his lightning fast wit and infectious laugh helped established him as a comedy icon.
Play trailer2:28
Joke Man (2023)
35 Videos
99+ Photos
This versatile, eclectic, rather wanderlust country crossover star known for his classic ballads ("Always On My Mind"), autobiographical road songs ("On the Road Again") and catchy rhythms ("Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys") started out life as Willie Hugh Nelson on April 30, 1933, in Depression-era Abbot, Texas. He is the son of Myrle Marie (Greenhaw) and Ira Doyle Nelson, a mechanic. After his parents got divorced, in which his mother moved to Oregon and his father remarried, he and sister Bobbie Lee were raised by their gospel-singing paternal grandparents, who introduced them to music. Working in the cotton fields, Willie was handed his first guitar at age six and within a short time was writing woeful country songs and playing in polka bands.

During his teenage years he played at high school dances and honky-tonks. He also worked for a local radio station and by graduation time he had become a DJ with his own radio show. Briefly serving a stint with the Air Force (discharged because of a bad back, which would plague him throughout his life), he sold his first song called "No Place For Me" while getting by with menial jobs as a janitor and door-to-door Bible salesman. Married in 1952 to a full-blooded Cherokee, he and first wife Martha had two children.

Willie initially came to be known in Nashville for selling his songs to well-established country artists such as Patsy Cline ("Crazy"), Faron Young ("Hello Walls") and Ray Price ("Night Life"). In 1962 he recorded a successful duet with singer Shirley Collie, whom he would later take as his second wife, but his career didn't progress despite joining the Grand 'Ol Opry. In the early 1970s, after extensive touring with his band (which included sister Bobbie on the piano) and experiencing a number of career downswings, he started performing and recording his own songs instead of selling them to others. Two of his albums, "Shotgun Willie" and "Phases and Stages", helped him gain some stature. In 1975 it all came together with the album "Red-Headed Stranger", which would become the top-selling country music album in history and propel him into the country music stratosphere. His offbeat phrasing, distinctive nasal tones and leathery, bewhiskered hippie-styled looks set a new standard for "outlaw" country music.

Around 1978 Willie showed himself to be a loose and natural presence in front of the camera, thus launching a film career. He had roles in several movies, his first opposite Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in Valaistu ratsumies (1979). His took to leading roles as a country music star in Honeysuckle Rose (1980), which would include a number of his songs on the soundtrack. He played opposite James Caan and Tuesday Weld in Suurkaupungin hait (1981) and a legendary outlaw in the western Barbarosa (1982). In the movie Muukalainen (1986), which was adapted from his hit 1975 album, he played a preacher, and he teamed up with pal Kris Kristofferson as a pair of country singers in Lauluntekijä (1984).

Willie and pal Kristofferson went on to form The Highwaymen with the late Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings and he successfully recorded and toured with the group for a number of years. They also teamed up to remake the classic western Hyökkäys erämaassa (1939) as a TV movie (Postivaunut Lordsburgiin (1986)). As a unique song stylist, the bearded, braided-haired, bandanna-wearing non-conformist took a number of non-country standards and made them his own, including Elvis Presley's "You Were Always on My Mind" and Ray Charles' "Georgia on My Mind."

Broaching the millennium, Willie continued to be active with film credits that would include roles in the westerns Dust to Dust (1994) and The Journeyman (2001), in addition to roles in such non-westerns as the sci-fi drama Starlight (1996); the comedy capers Kahjo kalareissu (1997), The Big Bounce (2004) and The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) (an updated screen version of the popular TV show); the action thriller Fighting with Anger (2007); the comedy Surfer, Dude (2008); the family dramedy Angels Sing (2013); the music fantasy Paradox (2018) which starred Neil Young and his sons Lukas Nelson and Micah Nelson; the dramatic fantasy Waiting for the Miracle to Come (2018); and Willie and Me (2023), a comedy chronicling the misadventures of a young German girl coming to America to see her idol Willie.

Willie happily married fourth wife Ann-Marie in 1991 and has survived more hard times in recent years, including a $16.7-million debt to the IRS and the suicide of one of his sons, Billy. Inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1993, Nelson received the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998.
BornApril 29, 1933
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornApril 29, 1933
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Nominated for 1 Oscar
    • 57 wins & 133 nominations total

Photos108

Willie Nelson in Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas (2022)
Willie Nelson and Jimmy Carter in Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President (2020)
Delta Burke, Willie Nelson, and Ted Hayden in Delta (1992)
Willie Nelson and Ray Benson in Wild Texas Wind (1991)
Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson in Wild Texas Wind (1991)
James Caan and Willie Nelson in Suurkaupungin hait (1981)
Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson in Postivaunut Lordsburgiin (1986)
Morgan Fairchild and Willie Nelson in Muukalainen (1986)
Willie Nelson in Honeysuckle Rose (1980)
Willie Nelson in Honeysuckle Rose (1980)
Willie Nelson and Mickey Rooney Jr. in Honeysuckle Rose (1980)

Known for:

Burt Reynolds, Willie Nelson, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson, and Johnny Knoxville in The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)
The Dukes of Hazzard
5.1
  • Uncle Jesse Duke
  • 2005
Wag the Dog: Häntä heiluttaa koiraa (1997)
Wag the Dog: Häntä heiluttaa koiraa
7.1
  • Johnny Dean
  • 1997
Mike Myers and Heather Graham in Austin Powers - agentti joka tuuppasi minua (1999)
Austin Powers - agentti joka tuuppasi minua
6.6
  • Willie Nelson
  • 1999
Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash in Postivaunut Lordsburgiin (1986)
Postivaunut Lordsburgiin
5.8
TV Movie
  • Doc Holliday
  • 1986

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actor

  • One Lucky Moon
    • Pre-production
  • My Cricket and Me
    • Buck Bonham
    • Pre-production
  • Willie and Me (2023)
    Willie and Me
    • Bones
    • Self
    • 2023
  • Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90 (2023)
    Long Story Short: Willie Nelson 90
    7.9
    • 2023
  • Dem Tinseltown Homiez, the Hollywood Guys (2021)
    Dem Tinseltown Homiez, the Hollywood Guys
    6.0
    TV Series
    • Stoner Activist Willie Icon
    • 2023
  • Dolly Parton in Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas (2022)
    Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas
    5.6
    TV Movie
    • Willie Nelson
    • 2022
  • Willie Nelson Feat. Diana Krall: I Won't Dance
    Music Video
    • Willie Nelson (voice)
    • 2021
  • Barbra Streisand & Willie Nelson: I'd Want It to Be You (Lyric Version)
    Music Video
    • Willie Nelson (voice)
    • 2021
  • Willie Nelson: Vote 'Em Out
    Music Video
    • Willie Nelson (voice)
    • 2020
  • Dolly Parton & Willie Nelson: Pretty Paper
    Music Video
    • Willie Nelson (voice)
    • 2020
  • Willie Nelson: Seven Year Itch
    Music Video
    • Willie Nelson
    • 2019
  • Willie Nelson: Immigrant Eyes
    Music Video
    • Willie Nelson
    • 2019
  • Willie Nelson: It's Hard to be Humble
    Music Video
    • Willie Nelson
    • 2019
  • Willie Nelson: Come on Time
    Music Video
    • Willie Nelson
    • 2019
  • Willie Nelson: Ride Me Back Home
    Music Video
    • Willie Nelson
    • 2019
  • Willie Nelson: Summer Wind
    Music Video
    • Willie Nelson
    • 2018
  • Willie Nelson: Heaven is Closed
    Music Video
    • Willie Nelson
    • 2018

Composer

  • Willie Nelson and Gary Revel in MLK: The Gary Revel Story
    Crazy
    Music Video
    • Composer
    • 2023
  • On the Road (2020)
    On the Road
    Short
    • Composer
    • 2020
  • Dolly Parton & Willie Nelson: Pretty Paper
    Music Video
    • Composer
    • 2020
  • Somebody Pick Up My Pieces/Crazy (2020)
    Somebody Pick Up My Pieces/Crazy
    Short
    • Composer
    • 2020
  • Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard: Alice in Hulaland
    Music Video
    • Composer
    • 2015
  • Kacey Musgraves Feat. Willie Nelson: Are You Sure
    Music Video
    • Composer
    • 2015
  • Chipotle: Back to the Start (2011)
    Chipotle: Back to the Start
    6.4
    Short
    • Composer
    • 2011
  • Willie Nelson and Ray Benson in Willie Nelson Feat. Asleep at the Wheel: Hesitation Blues (2009)
    Willie Nelson Feat. Asleep at the Wheel: Hesitation Blues
    7.3
    Music Video
    • Composer
    • 2009
  • Mariah Carey: Right to Dream (2008)
    Mariah Carey: Right to Dream
    2.2
    Music Video
    • Composer
    • 2008
  • Trailer Court Justice (2006)
    Trailer Court Justice
    8.9
    TV Series
    • Composer
    • 2006
  • Willie Nelson: My Own Peculiar Way
    5.6
    Music Video
    • Composer
    • 1998
  • Willie Nelson: I Never Cared for You
    7.0
    Music Video
    • Composer
    • 1998
  • David Lee Roth: Night Life (1994)
    David Lee Roth: Night Life
    6.3
    Music Video
    • Composer
    • 1994
  • Al Green & Lyle Lovett: Funny How Time Slips Away
    Music Video
    • Composer
    • 1994
  • Julio Iglesias: Crazy
    Music Video
    • Composer
    • 1994

Videos35

Webisode: Living
Clip 2:45
Webisode: Living
Webisode: Teasing
Clip 1:41
Webisode: Teasing
Dude Moment: Be Cool
Clip 0:25
Dude Moment: Be Cool
Dude Moment: Pants
Clip 0:22
Dude Moment: Pants
Dude Moment: Fish
Clip 0:20
Dude Moment: Fish
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:28
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:07
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:25
Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 1:40
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 2:15
Official Trailer
Lost in London
Trailer 1:25
Lost in London
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy
Trailer 2:41
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy

Personal details

Edit
  • Official sites
    • Apple Music
    • Facebook
  • Alternative names
    • The Highwaymen
  • Height
    • 1.67 m
  • Born
    • April 29, 1933
    • Abbott, Texas, USA
  • Spouses
      Annie D'AngeloSeptember 16, 1991 - present (2 children)
  • Children
      Lana Nelson
  • Parents
      Ira Doyle Nelson
  • Relatives
      Renee(Grandchild)
  • Other works
    TV commercial: Gap jeans
  • Publicity listings
    • 6 Print Biographies
    • 1 Portrayal
    • 8 Interviews
    • 20 Articles
    • 1 Pictorial
    • 3 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    On the last night of his first marriage with Martha, Willie came home drunk and passed out on the bed. Willie's wife sewed him up in a sheet and then beat him with a broom and then getting away in the car with the kids, her clothes, and his clothes. Willie said there was no way he could follow her naked so that was kind of the end of it.
  • Quotes
    Waylon Jennings once said that if everybody got up in the morning and masturbated, there wouldn't be no wars. I am not in favor of that as much as I am of pot. They should start off every morning summit with a puff or maybe just pump a little into the air conditioner. In the future, I would like to be able to push a switch and have pot released into every household all over the world.
  • Trademarks
      Long red hair (usually braided into a ponytail)
  • Nicknames
    • Red Headed Stranger
    • The Ambassador to Weedville
    • Shotgun Willie
    • Willie the Weedman

FAQ13

Powered by Alexa
  • How old is Willie Nelson?
  • When was Willie Nelson born?
  • Where was Willie Nelson born?

Related news

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More to explore

Production art
List
The Best New Shows and Movies in November
See our picks
Production art
Photos
Radical On-Screen Transformations
See the gallery

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Demo reel thumbnail
Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel

Add demo reel with IMDbPro

Make your IMDb page stand out by adding a demo reel
Upload your demo reel
Demo reel thumbnail

How much have you seen?

Keep track of how much of Willie Nelson’s work you have seen. Go to your list.

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb App
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
  • Get the IMDb App
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • IMDb Developer
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.