Woody Harrelson's Legal Role

(CBS)  With an Emmy for the popular sitcom "Cheers" and an Oscar nomination for "The People vs. Larry Flynt," Woody Harrelson has proven he's a versatile actor.

In his latest film, "North Country," he portrays Bill White, a lawyer who helps Charlize Theron's character, Josey Aimes, sue the mining company she works for.

Initially, White helps Aimes only because a sexual harassment class action lawsuit had never been done before. Later, he may have genuinely cared about the case.

"I think, ultimately, maybe he felt that way," Harrelson said on The Early Show. "This is a fictionalized character, this particular one. But you have to acknowledge him being a lawyer, and all; he's got to be a little bit opportunistic."

It was a part Harrelson turned down initially.

"I cannot explain or account for my actions on many areas of my life," he told co-anchor Rene Syler. "But in this particular case, I don't know what I was thinking. Here we've got Niki Caro, one of the greatest directors I ever worked for. He did 'Whale Rider,' and knocked this out of the park, and Charlize and Sissy Spacek and Francis McDormand and Sean Bean, and the phenomenal script by Michael Seitzman. I don't know what I was thinking or why I turned it down.

"I'm very lucky. It's a great movie."

He even took his daughters to see the film.

"I don't think my daughters are going to have any problem with (sexual harassment). They pretty much rule the roost as it is," he joked. "But they're amazing kids. I was glad they saw it because they're not really aware that that kind of thing exists."

Wearing hemp tennis shoes and a shirt made out of hemp and soy under his Calvin Klein suit, Harrelson discussed living in a solar sustainable community in Maui.

"We don't have any power lines in our community. And we don't want them," he said. "Everybody has solar or wind and generator backups so it's kind of cool. We're off the grid. It's not like we all got together and decided that. It's just that there were no power lines, so you have to do something. Now we really don't want power lines, ever."

Harrelson doesn't have a microwave oven or a dishwasher in his home.

"We have plenty of things that draw power (though)," he said. "In fact, we could run a whole construction site off of the power that we have, off of the sun. It's something that I'd like to see taken advantage of more across the world because we seem to be very dependent on these industries that are kind of hell bent on, A, profit; and, B, green-housing the whole world."

About Woody Harrelson:

• Born in Midland, Texas, on July 23, 1961.
  
  
• From 1985-93, portrayed the dim-witted but good-hearted bartender, Woody Boyd, on the Emmy-winning NBC sitcom "Cheers."
  
  
• In 1986, had a supporting role as a high school football player under the guidance of coach Goldie Hawn in the comedy "Wildcats." He then tried his hand at dramatic roles in such NBC made-for-TV melodramas as "Bay Coven" (1987) and "Killer Instinct" (1988) while opting for lighter outings in numerous specials.
  
  
• In 1991, was the romantic rival of Michael J. Fox in the comedy "Doc Hollywood." The following year, took the lead in a major motion picture, Ron Shelton's "White Men Can't Jump," playing opposite Wesley Snipes.
  
  
• In 1993, took the role of the venal but jealous husband of Demi Moore in the romantic drama "Indecent Proposal."
  
  
• In 1994, played opposite Kiefer Sutherland as a country boy in the big city in the standardized "buddy" comedy-actioner "The Cowboy Way." Also was cast in Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers."
  
  
• In 1995, worked again with Snipes in "Money Train."
  
  
• In 1996, was a one-armed bowling hustler in "Kingpin;" an initially unsympathetic physician taken hostage by an ailing renegade Native American teen in Michael Cimino's "Sunchaser"; and controversial pornographer Larry Flynt in Oliver Stone's production of Milos Forman's biopic "The People vs. Larry Flynt." For his Flynt portrayal, he received an Oscar nomination.
  
  
• In 1997, took the role of a spaced-out U.S. TV journalist in "Welcome to Sarajevo"; was Sgt. William Schumann in Barry Levinson's "Wag the Dog"; and was the star of "Palmetto."
  
  
• In 1998, took the role of the larger-than-life hell-raiser Big Boy Matson in "The Hi-Lo Country." He then delivered a memorable cameo in Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line."
  
  
• In 1999, returned to his comic roots as Matthew McConaughey's rakehell brother in Ron Howard's "Edtv."
  
  
• In 2000, starred alongside Antonio Banderas as washed-up boxers attempting to reignite their careers in Las Vegas in "Play It to the Bone."
  
  
• In 2003, worked in the little-seen caper comedy "Scorched"; appeared primarily in cameo or supporting roles in films such as "Anger Management" and "She Hate Me." Also made news as a proponent of a vegan diet, being the co-owner of a San Francisco oxygen bar and as an outspoken hemp activist and environmentalist.
  
  
• In 2004, returned to the big screen working opposite Pierce Brosnan in the caper film "After the Sunset," playing an obsessed FBI agent.
  
  
• Can currently be seen on the big screen in Jane Anderson's "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" with Julianne Moore.
  
  
• Upcoming films include Mark Mylod's "The Big White," with Robin Williams and Holly Hunter; Richard Linklater's "A Scanner Darkly," with Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr. and Winona Ryder.
  
  
• Married Laura Louie on Jan. 11, 1998. The couple has two daughters: Deni Montana Harrelson, born March 5, 1993, and Zoe Harrelson, born on Sept. 22, 1996.