American actor, producer, writer and director Bruce Campbell was born on June 22, 1958 in Royal Oak, Michigan. His father was an amateur actor and his mother was a homemaker. When he was eight, he caught the acting bug from his father. He then played the young prince in The King and I when he was 14, and continued to appear in several local theater productions. His interest in directing grew as a teenager, and began to shoot Super 8 films with his friends. He soon befriended director Sam Raimi in Wylie E. Groves High School and began to make more movies together. Hw worked on his acting career while attending Western Michigan University. In 1976, Campbell became an apprentice at Traverse City’s Cherry County Playhouse, a summer-stock company.
Bruce Campbell decided to work with Sam Raimi on the 1981 film The Evil Dead, which he co-produced and starred in. It first gained notice in the United Kingdom before being distributed in America. Campbell became known for his role as Ash Williams, and the film spawned two sequels Evil Dead II in 1987 and Army of Darkness in 1992. He also appeared in some of Raimi’s other films, like the Spider-Man series. Campbell took on the quirky role of Elvis Presley in Bubba Ho-Tep, and had a supporting role in the family film Sky High in 2005 as Coach Boomer. His television career includes a role in The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. in 1993 and 1994. He was also in Jack of All Trades as an American spy and a masked crusader known as The Daring Dragon. He also became a recurring guest star on the show Ellen in its fourth season. Campbell gained fame for his supporting roles, playing Autolycus in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. He was critically acclaimed for his guest role in Homicide: Life on the Street, as well as playing a demon on The X Files in 1999. He was also cast in the series Charmed, and lent his voice to his animated version in Robot Chicken. In 2007, he was given a role in the series Burn Notice. That year, he played a slightly different version of himself in My Name is Bruce.