After graduating from
Southwest Texas State University in
San Marcos, Texas, Boothe joined the
repertory company of the
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, with roles in
Henry IV, Part 2 (portraying
Henry IV of England),
Troilus and Cressida, and others. His New York City stage debut was in the 1974
Lincoln Center production of
Richard III. Five years later, his
Broadway theater debut came in a starring role in the one-act play
Lone Star, written by
James McLure. Boothe first came to national attention in 1980, playing
Jim Jones in the
CBS TV film
Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones. Boothe's portrayal of the crazed
cult leader received critical acclaim. In
Time story on the production, Boothe was praised: "There is one extraordinary performance. A young actor named Powers Boothe captures all the charisma and evil of 'Dad', Jim Jones." Boothe won the
Emmy Award for his role, beating out veterans
Henry Fonda and
Jason Robards. As the
Screen Actors Guild were on
strike in the fall of 1980, he was the only actor to cross picket lines to attend
the ceremonies and accept his award, saying at the time, "This may be either the bravest moment of my career or the dumbest." Boothe portrayed
Philip Marlowe in a
TV series based on Raymond Chandler's short stories for
HBO in the 1980s. He appeared in such films as
Southern Comfort,
A Breed Apart,
Red Dawn,
The Emerald Forest,
Rapid Fire and
Extreme Prejudice, as well as the HBO films
Into the Homeland and ''
By Dawn's Early Light. In 1989, Boothe appeared in the Mosfilm production of "Stalingrad", in which he played the role of General Chuikov, commander of the Soviet 62nd Army. Additionally, he appeared in the 1990 CBS-TV film Family of Spies, in which he played traitor Navy Officer John Walker. Boothe portrayed Curly Bill Brocius in the hit 1993 Western Tombstone, the disloyal senior Army officer in Blue Sky'' (opposite
Jessica Lange's
Oscar-winning performance), and the sinister lead terrorist in
Sudden Death. He was also part of the large ensemble casts for
Oliver Stone's
Nixon (as
Chief of Staff Alexander Haig) and
U Turn (as the town sheriff). In 2001, he starred as
Flavius Aëtius, the Roman general in charge of stopping the Hun invasion in the made-for-TV miniseries
Attila. Boothe played a featured role as
brothel-owner
Cy Tolliver on the HBO series
Deadwood, and the corrupt senator
Ethan Roark in the motion picture
Sin City (2005), as well as its sequel,
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014). He is the voice of one of the characters in the 2005 video game
Area 51 and of
Gorilla Grodd, the hyper-intelligent
telepathic supervillain in
Justice League and
Justice League Unlimited. He voiced the villain, Kane, in the 2008 video game
Turok. He was a special guest star on
24, where he played Vice President
Noah Daniels. He returned in the prequel to the seventh season,
24: Redemption. Just after taking the role as acting President, Boothe is seen exiting
Air Force Two with
F-15s in the background. Boothe played a downed F-15 pilot in
Red Dawn. In March 2008, he narrated a television
campaign ad for Senator
John McCain's
presidential campaign. In 2012, Boothe appeared in
Joss Whedon's
The Avengers as
Gideon Malick, a shadowy governmental superior to
S.H.I.E.L.D. From 2015–16, he reprised the role in the ABC series
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Boothe appeared in the 2012 miniseries
Hatfields & McCoys as Judge Valentine "Wall" Hatfield. Boothe was also cast as Lamar Wyatt in the
ABC musical drama series
Nashville. Boothe also lent his voice to
Hitman: Absolution, a 2012 video game developed by
IO Interactive, voicing the character of Benjamin Travis. == Personal life ==