Arkanses born fat boy Billy Bob Thornton had gone through the typical struggle to get himself on screen. This also included being rejected as a scriptwriter along with his friend. But his mother predicted that he would get to work with Burt Reynolds and he did. His multi tasking father was a teacher, football coach, and history teacher. He is no more now. His mother Virginia gave birth to him along with three younger brothers. Thornton has been married five times and has five children for the record! He wanted to become a musician- drummer, in his younger days. He also sang for a band called Tres Hombres. It was only in 1981 that Thornton came to LA to try his luck in acting and writing with a good friend Tom Epperson for support. They tried to get producers interested in their scripts but to no avail. The struggle made him sick and he was admitted to the hospital with malnutrition. He lived on potatoes for a while. He was forced to work as a tele marketer and in fast food management. He also worked with an off shore wind farming company. Amongst the other odd jobs he also waited for an industry event.

Film director Billy Wilder advised Thornton to try his luck with screenplay writing. Recognition came in 1992 with ‘One False Move’, which he wrote with Epperson. Four years later with ‘Sling Blade’ he has made it to the threshold of Hollywood. In other well-known movies like ‘Indecent Proposal’, On Deadly Ground, ‘Bound By Honor’, ‘Grey Knight’ and ‘Tombstone’ he played small roles. Being friends comes easily to Thornton and he knows how to stick up to good friends. So far he has been friendly to Southern star Robert Duvall and the two of them actually planned to ban the actors from New York! Thornton is also known to be affable to co-stars and technicians alike. He knows how to cut ice when he needs to. He did it when he was to shoot for the first time with Susan Sarandon he quietly got together with a couple of friends and put her pictures across in his trailer. She naturally freaked but melted soon enough to become friendly to him. It is a matter of time when we will know if it helps them to make the comedy ‘Mr. Woodstock’ a box office hit. The actor cum writer cum producer who has to his credit 39 film, 7 television roles, and nearly 17 awards is not proud of one film and he has decided his children will not see it even when they turn 60! In ‘Monster Ball’ Thornton is paired with Halle Berry. He plays a police officer Hank who has an affair with a widow. He is also responsible for sending her husband to the electric chair. He does not like the graphic scenes of the film to be exposed to three-year-old Bella, 14-year-old Harry, William, 13 and Amanda, 27. He is so determined that he has put that even in his will. Will adopted son Maddox (with Angelina Jolie) get to see the film when he grows up? No one knows that yet. Five times and married. Is he giving wrong signals to people out there? Thornton once said, “those about to march down the aisle should be thinking, Like, yeah, I'm doing this forever, but don't let it freak you out." Billy Bob Thornton can only give this much friendly advice!