WILLIAM HURT, who stars as inept hired killer Harlan James, won an Academy Award in 1986 for his performance in "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and received Oscar nominations for his next two films, "Children of a Lesser God" and "Broadcast News."

"I Love You to Death" is Hurt's fourth film with Lawrence Kasdan. The director first cast the actor to play the cynical, corruptible lawyer in his 1981 hit "Body Heat," which also starred Kathleen Turner. Kasdan next invited him to join his 1983 ensemble film "The Big Chill." Also in the cast was "I Love You to Death" star Kevin Kline. Hurt then starred with Kathleen Turner and Geena Davis in Kasdan's 1988 film, "The Accidental Tourist."

Hurt made his film debut in 1980 playing the obsessed scientist in Ken Russell's "Altered States." His performance brought him immediate critical acclaim, and he went on to star as the janitor and hero in Peter Yates' "Eyewitness" and a nonconformist Russian cop in Michael Apted's "Gorky Park." He subsequently portrayed an imprisoned homosexual in Hector Barbenco's "Kiss of the Spider Woman," an unorthodox teacher of the deaf in Randa Haines' "Children of a Lesser God," a network correspondent in James L. Brooks' "Broadcast News" and a vengeful World War II soldier in "A Time of Destiny."

Upcoming for Hurt are "Until the End of the World," directed by Wim Wenders, and Woody Allen's new film.

Born in Washington, D.C., Hurt spent his early childhood in the South Pacific, where his father was a director of Trust Territories for the U.S. State Department. He became interested in acting at Tufts University. After studying theology for three years, he switched to theater and spent his senior year studying in London.

Hurt returned to the United States and enrolled at Juilliard, where he stayed for three years before spending a year with the Shakespeare Festival in Oregon. Back in New York, he joined the Circle Repertory Company and appeared in numerous plays, including "The Fifth of July," "The Runner Stumbles," "Hamlet" and "My Life," for which he won both an Obie and a Theater World Award.

Hurt's other theater credits include appearances in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and David Rabe's "Hurlyburly," for which he received a Tony Award nomination as best supporting actor.

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