William Hurt

William McChord Hurt (born March 20, 1950) is an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. He studied at the Juilliard School and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut in 1980 as a troubled scientist in Ken Russell's science-fiction feature Altered States, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year. In 1981 he played a leading role, as a lawyer who succumbs to the temptations of Kathleen Turner, in the neo-noir Body Heat. He played another leading role, as Arkady Renko, in Gorky Park (1983).

After a variety of character roles in the following decade, Hurt earned his fourth Academy Award nomination for his supporting performance in David Cronenberg's crime thriller A History of Violence (2005). Other notable recent films include A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), The Village (2004), Syriana (2005), The Good Shepherd (2006), Mr. Brooks (2007), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010), and the Marvel Cinematic Universe films The Incredible Hulk (2008), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Black Widow (2020), in which he portrays Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross.