William James Pullman was born in Hornell, New York, one of seven children of Johanna (Blaas), a nurse, and James Pullman, a doctor. He is of Dutch (mother) and English, Northern Irish, and Scottish (father) descent. After high school, Bill went into a building construction program at SUNY Delhi in New York. He transferred to State University of New York College at Oneonta where he received his BA in Theater. He received both his MFA in Theater/Directing and an honorary PHD from University of Massachusetts at Amherst. While teaching Directing at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, one of Bill's students was the soon-to-be film director John Dahl, who later cast Mr. Pullman in "The Last Seduction".

Tamara Pullman (3 January 1987 - present) ( 3 children)

Trivia

When promoting Independence Day (1996) in South America, some people actually thought he was the President of the United States,
Brother teaches English at Ithaca High School in Ithaca, NY
While teaching at Montana State University one of his students was director John Dahl. Later Dahl gave him a role in his film The Last Seduction (1994).
Received an honorary doctorate of fine arts on 24 May 2008 from The University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Currently co-owns a ranch in Montana with his brother.
Lost his sense of smell after a head injury and two-day coma.
Children: Maesa Pullman (b. 1988), Jack Pullman (b. 1989), Lewis Pullman (b. 1993).
Attended the State University of New York at Oneonta in the mid-'70s, but did not graduate. However, he was guest speaker for the Oneonta graduating class of 1992.

[on watching Independence Day (1996) with President Bill Clinton] Oh, great. This is going to be like shooting baskets with Magic Johnson watching.
[1996, on Lost Highway (1997)] I was brought up in a very small town in upstate New York. We lived on Main Street, and my dad was a doctor. And this idyllic setting held some very dark corners. Working with David Lynch, getting to know his psyche, and getting inside the character in Lost Highway felt so connected up to my past. Benign on the exterior, seething on the interior. My dad was also the town coroner, so we saw all these dead bodies...When I was a teenager my father would bring us along. I remember that when my mother had colon cancer, my father took us down to the basement of the hospital and pulled out a tumor in a jar to show us. And he's holding it up, he's kinda laughing, like a scientist. He said, 'See, it's kinda like congealed hamburger.' I mean, that's like David Lynch, that combination of strange, funny, macabre, all in one. So working with Lynch felt very much like going home.