Editing James Woods (section)

== Early life and education ==
Woods was born on April 18, 1947, in [[Vernal, Utah]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sltrib.com/healthscience/ci_4063347|title=Utah Local News – Salt Lake City News, Sports, Archive – The Salt Lake Tribune|work=sltrib.com|access-date=January 18, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025115651/http://www.sltrib.com/healthscience/ci_4063347|archive-date=October 25, 2014}}</ref> and had a brother ten years younger.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-oct-04-et-woods4-story.html|title=Very James Woods|last=Fernandez|first=Maria Elena|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=October 4, 2006|access-date=January 24, 2016}}</ref> His father, Gail Peyton Woods, was a United States Army intelligence officer who died in 1960<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.warwickonline.com/warwickonline/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28647&Itemid=30 |title=Warwick Online: Michael Woods remembered for a smile, and a laugh |access-date=June 5, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111210752/http://www.warwickonline.com/warwickonline/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28647&Itemid=30 |archive-date=November 11, 2007 }}</ref> after routine surgery. His mother, Martha A. ({{nee|Smith}}), ran a pre-school after her husband's death<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fxgcnvhgfwww.filmreference.com/film/14/James-Woods.html|title=James Woods Biography (1947–)|work=filmreference.com|access-date=January 18, 2015|archive-date=September 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180909184919/http://www.filmreference.com/film/14/James-Woods.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and later married Thomas E. Dixon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.warwickonline.com/stories/Martha-A-Woods-Dixon,67251?town_id=1&sub_type=stories|title=Martha A. Woods Dixon – Warwick Beacon|work=Warwick Beacon|date=January 31, 2012 |access-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref> Woods grew up in [[Warwick, Rhode Island]], where he attended [[Pilgrim High School]], from which he graduated in 1965. He is of part Irish descent and was raised Catholic, briefly serving as an altar boy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/380720429855682560|title=James Woods on Twitter|work=Twitter|access-date=January 18, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/332541733 | work=The Herald | first=Kevin | last=McCardle | title=Face of the Day | date=September 17, 1999| id={{ProQuest|332541733}} }}</ref>

Woods was an undergraduate at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]].<ref name=tca>{{cite news |last= Zad|first= Martie|date= April 30, 2000|title= James Woods Fled MIT for Acting|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/2000/04/30/james-woods-fled-mit-for-acting/e25fcdd7-d409-4b8f-9050-99c9fe38c8e1/|newspaper= The Washington Post|location= Washington, D.C.|access-date= July 4, 2018}}</ref> He stated on ''[[Inside the Actors Studio]]'' that he originally intended to become an eye surgeon. He pledged the [[Theta Delta Chi]] fraternity and was a member of the student theatre group Dramashop, acting in and directing a number of plays. He dropped out of MIT in 1969, one semester before graduating, to pursue an acting career.<ref name="nograd">New York Times Service, published by New York Times and Arno press, 1989, page 788</ref> 

Woods has said that he owes his acting career to Tim Affleck, father of actors [[Ben Affleck|Ben]] and [[Casey Affleck]]. The senior Affleck was a stage manager at the Theatre Company of Boston, which Woods attended as a student.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Lidz|first1=Franz|title=FILM; Ben Affleck Shocker: I Bargained With Devil for Fame|newspaper=New York Times|date=September 10, 2000|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/10/movies/film-ben-affleck-shocker-i-bargained-with-devil-for-fame.html|access-date=March 4, 2012}}</ref>