Bruce Willis made his screen debut in the 1980 American crime thriller film ‘The First Deadly Sin’ where he made an uncredited appearance as a man entering a diner. After making yet another uncredited appearance in the 1982 American legal drama film ‘The Verdict,’ he starred as ‘Walter Davis’ in the 1987 American romantic comedy film ‘Blind Date’ directed by Blake Edwards. Even though the film was largely panned by critics, it did decent business at the box office. In 1988, he played the role of ‘John McClane’ in the American action film ‘Die Hard’ directed by John McTiernan. Despite opening to mixed reviews, the film managed to gross over $139.8–141.5 million on a $25–35 million budget. He next starred in films like ‘In Country’ (1989), ‘Die Hard 2’ (1990), ‘The Bonfire of the Vanities’ (1990), ‘Mortal Thoughts’ (1991), ‘The Last Boy Scout’ (1991), ‘Death Becomes Her’ (1992), and ‘Striking Distance’ (1993). In 1994, he played the role of ‘Butch Coolidge’ in the Quentin Tarantino-directed American black comedy crime film ‘Pulp Fiction.’ The film earned praise from critics and was a major commercial success, grossing over $213.9 million on a budget of $8–8.5 million. The same year, he also starred in the American comedy-drama film ‘Nobody's Fool’ directed by Robert Benton. The film received a positive response from critics earning a 91% approval score on Rotten Tomatoes.
He continued to star in films like ‘Die Hard with a Vengeance’ (1995), ‘Last Man Standing’ (1996), ‘The Fifth Element’ (1997), ‘Mercury Rising’ (1998), ‘Armageddon’ (1998), ‘The Sixth Sense’ (1999), ‘The Kid’ (2000), ‘Unbreakable’ (2000), ‘Bandits’ (2001), ‘Hart's War’ (2002), ‘Tears of the Sun’ (2003), ‘The Whole Ten Yards’ (2004), ‘Sin City’ (2005), ‘Alpha Dog’ (2006), ‘Lucky Number Slevin’ (2006), and ‘Perfect Stranger’ (2007). In 2007, he reprised his role as ‘John McClane’ in the American action-thriller film ‘Live Free or Die Hard’ directed by Len Wiseman. The film managed to impress the critics and was a commercial success, grossing over $388.2 million on a budget of $110 million. He went on to star in films like ‘What Just Happened’ (2008), ‘Red’ (2010), ‘Catch .44’ (2011), ‘The Expendables 2’ (2012), ‘Looper’ (2012), ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’ (2013), ‘Red 2’ (2013), ‘Sin City: A Dame to Kill For’ (2014), ‘Rock the Kasbah’ (2015), ‘Precious Cargo’ (2016), ‘Once Upon a Time in Venice’ (2017), ‘Death Wish’ (2018), ‘Air Strike’ (2018), ‘Glass’ (2019), ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ (2019), ‘Hard Kill’ (2020), ‘Midnight in the Switchgrass’ (2021), and ‘Apex’ (2021). He was last seen in the 2022 Jared Cohn-directed American action thriller film ‘Vendetta’ where he played the role of ‘Donnie Fetter.’