Woodrow Tracy Harrelson—Woody to Most—is known for his expert portrayal of creepy characters in blockbuster films. Natural killers, The People v. Larry Flynt, The Hunger Games trilogy, A true detectiveAnd poison Movies While his acting credits are notable and his talent profound, we follow Harrelson for his vegan generosity and entrepreneurial work.
From mentoring Stranger Things Starring Sadie Sink to invest in eco-friendly and plant-based businesses, Harrelson is about as vegan as you can get. Here’s how the award-winning actor became a true vegan icon:
He has been a vegetarian for over 30 years
Harrelson has been a vegetarian for more than 30 years — long before the invention of modern conveniences like the Beyond Burger and non-dairy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. This was even before Starbucks introduced soy milk. Back in the day, if you were a vegetarian, it practically dictated that you also ate plant-based whole foods, as processed vegan products were extremely rare. We tip our hat to you, sir.
Contrary to the way most people eat animal products—vegetarian first, then vegetarian—the Prime Time Emmy winner ditches milk and cheese first. In a 2014 interview with Metro, he said: “I was on a bus when I was about 24 and this girl saw me blowing my nose – and I had pimples all over my face. He told me that I was obviously lactose intolerant and that my symptoms would disappear in a few days if I gave up dairy. He was right.”
In that same interview, Harrelson described how eating steak and hamburgers made him feel lazy. But after giving up animal products his energy level increases.
For years, Harrelson adopted a predominantly raw vegetarian diet. she said style In an often-quoted article that was later removed: “I’m vegetarian, but I eat mostly raw. If I have cooked food, I feel my energy drain. So when I first started changing my eating habits, it wasn’t an ethical or moral pursuit but an energetic pursuit.” Granted, he admits to regularly enjoying vegetarian-friendly libations—but no one should be held to a perfect standard. In his mind, a mostly raw vegetarian diet balances the post-alcohol lethargy.
He inspires new vegetarians
Stranger Things Star Sadie Sink can still be vegan thanks to Harrelson’s gentle direction. Co-narrator of a 2018 documentary about industrial animal agriculture, dominanceShe credits Harrelson with educating her about a vegetarian diet when the two worked together on the 2017 biographical drama, The glass castle. And apparently, his family knows how to serve good food.
“His daughter and I had three days of sleep,” Sink said came In 2019. “The whole time I was on them, I felt good about what I was eating, and not like I was missing anything.”
English actress Thandie Newton also mentioned in an interview that she became a vegetarian while shooting on set Solo: A Star Wars Story With Harrelson. “I think it’s good to have a vegan in the mix … a vegan in a position of power. “I’ve been a vegetarian since working with Woody,” she said of the Texas-born actor, whom she fondly called “everyone’s parent.”
Harrelson also influenced ex-vegetarian Liam Hemsworth to try the lifestyle when the two shot The Hunger Games. Hemsworth remained a vegetarian until 2019 when he reintroduced animal products into his diet after battling kidney stones. Perhaps another film with Harrelson could get Hemsworth back on the vegan bandwagon.
He has vegan connections
Although Harrelson feels best when eating raw, she can appreciate and lift up other vegans in the culinary scene. As friends of Chad and Derek Sarno—the chefs behind the Wicked Healthy and Good Catch brands—Harrelson wrote the foreword to the pair’s cookbook, The Wicked Healthy Cookbook. He employs many vegetarian chefs (including Sarnos) to cater for his private events and “on-location” filming days. We can only imagine the quality of that catering spread.
wicked kitchen
He is a worker
Harrelson’s transformative powers don’t stop when he’s off set. He is active in spreading the plant-positive message and takes steps to do so. In 2019, she joined forces with the animal rights nonprofit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to protest an annual pig rodeo in Texas. That same year, she was among the many celebrities behind the activist group Million Dollar Vegan’s initiative to convince Pope Francis to go vegan for Lent. The head of the Catholic Church has since issued statements encouraging young people to eat less meat to help mitigate the climate crisis.
He has also contributed his voice and support to Sir Paul McCartney’s ongoing Meat Free Monday campaign. And, even if it’s just for laughs, Harrelson even brought his vegan point-of-view into the HBO sitcom’s fourth episode, season 11. Curb your enthusiasmWhere he clearly told the characters that dairy should be removed from their diet for mother cows.
Harrelson is also the narrator behind the 2020 Netflix documentary about regenerative agriculture, kiss the ground, which paints a positive picture of the climate future, should we move away from monocultures. Although the film is clearly not vegan, Harrelson cares deeply about preserving and restoring the planet’s biodiversity.
“We have a lot of corporate industrial agriculture and the way they do it now is very destructive with pesticide use and soil destruction,” he said during a panel at Idaho’s 2022 Sun Valley Film Festival. “Soil regeneration can be a great way to reduce the effects of global warming.”
He invests in vegetarian brands
In October 2021, Harrelson and actor Wayne Wilson both invested in Abbott’s Butcher, a plant-based meat brand. The Costa Mesa, CA-based company specializes in vegan meats made from pea protein and free of soy, gluten and canola oil.
As a friend and admirer of the Sarno brothers, Harrelson was one of several big names, including business mogul Paris Hilton and big lie star Shailene Woodley—to invest in their vegan seafood line in 2020. Today, Good Catch has crossed the pond from the UK to the US where its plant-based tuna, fish sticks and crab cakes are available in major grocery stores nationwide. In 2022, the brothers’ Wicked Kitchen Company secured $20 million in a funding round that included Woody Harrelson to help further accelerate the brand’s growth.
“What I love about this brand is that the products are actually made by chefs who always put taste first, making it so easy to be plant-based,” Harrelson said of Wicked Kitchen.
He is also an investor in a Baltimore, MD property that houses the vegetarian-friendly restaurant L’Eau de Vie. Harrelson bought the real estate when it was a boutique hotel, though the property has since been redeveloped into luxury apartment homes. The restaurant opened on the ground floor of the new apartment building, but unfortunately, it closed.
Early in his career, he partnered with entrepreneur Jeff Golfman to launch Prairie Pulp & Paper—an eco-friendly, tree-free paper company that supplies paper to Staples office stores in Canada and the United States.
While in Los Angeles, Woody enjoys dining at one of four locations of Sage Vegan Bistro—a vegan micro-chain that threw some money into 2017 to support the expansion of a vegan beer garden in L.A.’s Echo Park neighborhood. Sage’s exceptional mix of raw and cooked foods played a role in securing Harrelson’s generosity.