Woody Harrelson has been famous for so long that it’s easy to forget how strange his career actually is. He started as the goofy bartender on “Cheers,” turned into one of the most respected dramatic actors of his generation, and somehow still finds time to get arrested for planting hemp seeds as a form of protest. At 64, he’s not slowing down. If anything, 2026 might be one of his busiest years yet.
Here’s a full rundown of what Woody Harrelson is doing right now, how he got here, and why he’s built a career (and a life) that looks nothing like a typical Hollywood trajectory.
Who Is Woody Harrelson, Really
Born Woodrow Tracy Harrelson in Midland, Texas, in 1961, he grew up under circumstances most actors don’t talk about in interviews. His father, Charles Harrelson, was a convicted contract killer who died in federal prison. Woody was raised largely by his mother, Diane, in Lebanon, Ohio, and later earned a theater and English degree from Hanover College in Indiana.
He landed his breakout role in 1985 as Woody Boyd on “Cheers,” a part that ran until the show ended in 1993 and won him an Emmy. From there, he did something a lot of sitcom stars never manage: he became a genuinely serious film actor. “White Men Can’t Jump” showed his range with comedy. “Natural Born Killers” showed audiences he could go dark. “The People vs. Larry Flynt” earned him his first Academy Award nomination.
Two more Oscar nods followed, for “The Messenger” in 2009 and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” in 2017, putting him in the small club of actors with multiple nominations across drama, comedy, and everything in between. He’s also logged time on “True Detective,” carried a franchise as Haymitch Abernathy in “The Hunger Games,” and turned up in “Zombieland,” “No Country for Old Men,” “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” and both “Venom” films opposite Tom Hardy.
What Woody Harrelson Is Working On in 2026
This year alone, Harrelson has more releases and honors than most actors rack up in five. Here’s the breakdown.
Full Phil, With Kristen Stewart
Harrelson reunited with French director Quentin Dupieux, known for absurdist films, for “Full Phil,” which premiered at Cannes. He plays Philip Doom, a wealthy American industrialist who drags his estranged daughter, played by Kristen Stewart, on a luxury trip to Paris. According to Deadline, Dupieux described the tone as somewhere between a glossy travel fantasy and a horror comedy. It marks Harrelson’s return to Cannes after his role in Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winner “Triangle of Sadness.”
Brothers, With Matthew McConaughey
If you’ve been waiting for Harrelson and McConaughey to share the screen again after “True Detective,” “EDtv,” and “Surfer, Dude,” the wait ends September 23, 2026. “Brothers” is an eight episode Apple TV+ comedy where the two play fictional versions of themselves, forced to live together on McConaughey’s Texas ranch after a family secret surfaces suggesting they might actually be related. The show had a rocky path to the screen. Production paused in June 2025 amid creative disagreements, and Paramount Television Studios took over the project after Skydance Media merged with Paramount Global. It’s finally set to premiere with two episodes at launch, then weekly through a November 4 finale.
The Cackling of the Dodos, With Sam Rockwell
Harrelson has also wrapped a Netflix project alongside Sam Rockwell, according to reporting from Gazettely. Full plot details are still under wraps, but it adds to a stacked slate for the back half of the year.
An Armadillo World Headquarters Documentary
Away from acting, Harrelson is producing a documentary on Armadillo World Headquarters, the Austin, Texas music venue that helped launch the city’s reputation as a live music capital in the 1970s. It’s the kind of passion project that fits his long standing ties to Austin and his interest in music history, not just Hollywood.
Honorary Heart of Sarajevo
In August 2026, the Sarajevo Film Festival announced it would award Harrelson its Honorary Heart of Sarajevo, recognizing what festival organizers called his outstanding contribution to film and an exceptional acting career. The festival, running August 14 through 21, planned to screen his 1997 film “Welcome to Sarajevo” as part of the tribute. He joined a 2026 honoree list that included Emily Watson, Asghar Farhadi, and Diego Luna.
A Career Built on Range
Part of why Harrelson keeps landing prestige projects and big franchise paychecks at the same time comes down to a range most actors simply don’t have. He can play a sociopathic killer, a grieving Army officer, a small town police chief, or a Marxist ship captain, and audiences buy every version.
A quick look at the throughline of his filmography:
| Era | Notable Work | What It Showed |
| 1985 to 1993 | Cheers | Comedic timing, sitcom stardom |
| 1992 to 1996 | White Men Can’t Jump, Natural Born Killers, The People vs. Larry Flynt | Range beyond comedy, first Oscar nod |
| 2009 to 2012 | The Messenger, Zombieland, The Hunger Games | Dramatic depth and franchise appeal at once |
| 2017 to 2022 | Three Billboards, Triangle of Sadness, Venom films | Prestige and blockbuster in the same stretch |
| 2026 | Full Phil, Brothers, The Cackling of the Dodos | International arthouse, streaming comedy, and Netflix, all in one year |
The Activism Isn’t a Side Note
You can’t write about Woody Harrelson without covering the activism, because it’s shaped his public image as much as any film role. He’s a long time vegan, was named PETA’s Sexiest Vegetarian in 2012, and has spent decades supporting Greenpeace and the Rainforest Action Network.
His most famous act of protest happened in June 1996, when he was arrested in Lee County, Kentucky, for planting four hemp seeds as a direct challenge to state law. He reportedly tipped off the sheriff ahead of time and had cameras there to record it. A jury acquitted him in 25 minutes. He’s also known for climbing the Golden Gate Bridge in 1996 to protest logging practices, an early sign that he was willing to put his body on the line for causes he cared about, not just write a check.
More recently, he’s drawn criticism for public comments questioning COVID era mask mandates, positions that public health experts pushed back on at the time. He’s generally framed his stances as rooted in personal liberty rather than a desire to stir controversy, though not everyone has read them that way.
Life Outside the Spotlight
Harrelson married Laura Louie in 2008, nearly two decades after she started working as his assistant on the “Cheers” set in 1987. They have three daughters, Deni, Zoe, and Makani, and the family has largely built its life away from Los Angeles, splitting time between Maui and Austin rather than chasing the traditional Hollywood scene.
His Maui property in Huelo reportedly runs on solar power with rainwater collection systems, consistent with the sustainability values he talks about publicly. In 2022, he opened The Woods WeHo, a cannabis dispensary in West Hollywood, turning a decades-old advocacy position into an actual business.
Estimates from outlets like Celebrity Net Worth put his net worth around $70 million as of the past two years, built from his “Cheers” earnings, box office heavyweights like “The Hunger Games” and the “Venom” franchise, and backend deals on projects he’s produced. As with any celebrity net worth figure, treat that number as a rough estimate rather than a confirmed fact. These calculations vary by source and rarely account for private business holdings.
FAQ
How old is Woody Harrelson in 2026? He was born on July 23, 1961, making him 64 years old for most of 2026 and turning 65 that July.
Is Woody Harrelson still vegan? Yes. He’s spoken publicly for years about following a plant based diet tied to his environmental beliefs, and it remains part of his public identity.
What is Woody Harrelson’s next movie? His most immediate release is “Full Phil” with Kristen Stewart, which already premiered at Cannes, followed by the Apple TV+ series “Brothers” with Matthew McConaughey, premiering September 23, 2026.
Does Woody Harrelson have kids? He has three daughters with wife Laura Louie: Deni, Zoe, and Makani, all of whom the family has kept largely out of the public eye.
What is Woody Harrelson’s net worth? Estimates place it around $70 million as of the most recent public reporting, though exact figures aren’t independently confirmed and vary by source.
Whatever project he shows up in next, Harrelson’s pattern by now is clear. He picks work that interests him, whether that’s a Netflix comedy, a Cannes arthouse film, or a documentary about a music venue, and he keeps his actual life mostly out of frame. For an actor with this much star power, that’s rarer than it sounds.
