Bruce Lorne Campbell was born on this day, June 22, 1958 in Royal Oak, Michigan.  An  American actor, producer, writer, comedian and director, Campbell began acting as a teenager and soon began making short Super 8 movies with friends.  Meeting Sam Raimi in Wylie E. Groves High School, the two became very good friends and started making movies together.

Attending Western Michigan University Campbell continued to work on his acting career. With Raimi, Campbel collaborated on a 30-minute Super 8 version of the first Evil Dead film, titled Within the Woods, which was initially used to attract investors.

A few years later, with family and friends, Campbell and Raimi began work on The Evil Dead. Receiving an endorsement from horror writer Stephen King, the film slowly began to receive distribution. Four years following its original release, it became the number one movie in the UK. It then received distribution in the U.S., spawning two sequels: Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness.  .

Other mainstream films for Campbell include supporting or featured roles in the Coen Brothers film The Hudsucker Proxy, the Michael Crichton adaptation Congo, the film version of McHale’s Navy, Escape From L.A. ( the sequel to John Carpenter’s Escape From New York), the Jim Carrey drama The Majestic and the 2005 Disney film Sky High. Campbell often takes on quirky roles, such as Elvis Presley in the film Bubba Ho-Tep.

Campbell had a starring voice role in the hit 2009 animated adaptation of the children’s book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and a supporting voice role in Pixar’s Cars 2.

He was also drawn in the Marvel Zombie comics as his character, Ash Williams. He is featured in five comics, all in the series Marvel Zombies vs. Army of Darkness. Campbell at WonderCon in 2013

Campbell is 56 today.