Bruce Campbell

In 1979 with his Detroit friends, 'Sam Raimi' (qv) and 'Rob Tapert' (qv), 'Bruce Campbell' (qv) raised $350,000 for a low-budget film, _The Evil Dead (1981)_ (qv), in which he starred and co-executive produced. Completed piecemeal over four years, the film first gained notoriety in England where it became the best-selling video of 1983, beating out _The Shining (1980)_ (qv). After its appearance at Cannes, where 'Stephen King' (qv) dubbed it "the most ferociously original horror film of the year", New Line Cinema stepped forward to release "Evil Dead" in the U.S.After co-producing _Crimewave (1985)_ (qv), a cross-genre comedy written by 'Sam Raimi' (qv), Ethan and 'Joel Coen' (qv), Campbell moved to Los Angeles and quickly gained a foothold producing or starring in genre films such as the _Maniac Cop (1988)_ (qv) series, _Lunatics: A Love Story (1991)_ (qv), _Moontrap (1989)_ (qv), and _Mindwarp (1991)_ (qv), a post-apocalyptic "Jeremiah Johnson", during which he met his wife-to-be, filmmaker, 'Ida Gearon' (qv).Campbell then rejoined his Detroit colleagues to star and co-produce the second and third films in the Evil Dead trilogy (_Evil Dead II (1987)_ (qv) & _Army of Darkness (1992)_ (qv)), completing 12 years of work on the cult favorite.This rough-and-tumble background was a plus as Campbell made his foray into television, first starring in the highly touted Fox series _The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993)_ (qv), then as a recurring guest-star on the hit show _Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993)_ (qv).With these under his belt, Campbell easily made the transition to director, helming numerous episodes and recurring as the King of Thieves in the #1 syndicated _Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995)_ (qv), and its follow-up phenomenon, _Xena: Warrior Princess (1995)_ (qv).Bruce has since expanded his range on television, appearing in anything from Disney's update of _The Wonderful World of Disney: The Love Bug (1997)_ (qv), to decidedly dramatic turns on the acclaimed series _Homicide: Life on the Street (1993)_ (qv) and _The X-Files (1993)_ (qv). At the invitation of ABC, Campbell ventured into the world of sitcoms with a recurring role on ABC's Emmy-nominated _Ellen (1994)_ (qv), participating in one of the three touted "out" episodes.But Campbell didn't abandon his film roots. During that time, he had featured roles in the blockbuster _Congo (1995)_ (qv), 'John Carpenter' (qv)'s _Escape from L.A. (1996)_ (qv), and the award-winning independent crime drama, _Running Time (1997)_ (qv). He followed these up with roles in Paramount's romantic comedy, _Serving Sara (2002)_ (qv), Jim Carrey's _The Majestic (2001)_ (qv), and all three of 'Sam Raimi' (qv)'s blockbuster Spider-Man movies.After a return to episodic television in the swashbuckling series, _Jack of All Trades (2000)_ (qv), Campbell took the title role in MGM's cult sleeper _Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)_ (qv). His directorial debut, _Man with the Screaming Brain (2005)_ (qv) premiered on the Sci Fi Channel, and Dark Horse Comics published the comic adaptation.Campbell then directed and starred as himself in _My Name Is Bruce (2007)_ (qv), a spoof of his B-movie career, then re-teamed with Disney for their fun-filled hit, _Sky High (2005)_ (qv).Campbell has since made the leap into other forms of entertainment, and is enjoying his role as an author with back-to-back New York Times bestsellers: a memoir entitled "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor", and his first novel, "Make Love the 'Bruce Campbell' (qv) Way".In the multi-media industry, Bruce has enjoyed voicing characters for Disney's animated TV series _Disney's the Legend of Tarzan (2001)_ (qv) and the Warner Brothers feature _The Ant Bully (2006)_ (qv). He also portrayed the character of "Mayor Shelbourne" in the animated hit film, _Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)_ (qv). Recently, Campbell voiced the role of "Rod Torque Redline" in _Cars 2 (2011)_ (qv), the sequel to the smash Disney animated feature and for the immensely popular game, "Call of Duty".In 2013, Bruce co-produced the hit remake of _Evil Dead (2013)_ (qv), joined his filmmaking pal 'Sam Raimi' (qv) on _Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)_ (qv), and completed an impressive seven-year run on the spy show, _Burn Notice (2007)_ (qv) (2007-2013), USA's #1 show on cable.More than two decades after the release of _Army of Darkness (1992)_ (qv), Bruce returned to his most iconic role for _Ash vs Evil Dead (2015)_ (qv), a highly-anticipated series premiering on the Starz network on Halloween 2015.::BC