Woody Harrelson has made his name from roles that have been the brunt of many a joke. Yet for all of his hilarities and jokes, he has played many a serious role that seem to go unnoticed. He has an attitude and personality made for sarcasm and comedy, and you can expect to see him in the same hilarious roles. Here are a few of his best, but both aspects of this well known actor deserved to be recognized.

Cheers
In his break out role, Mr. Harrelson played as the bartender with the same name in the hit sitcom Cheers. The writers matched his rough features with his dialogue, and he was always good for the quick one liner with the down on his luck (most likely an alcoholic) accountant, Norm. While this role was nothing major, nor was it nothing minor. The stepping stone to his career, his stint in the television show led him to star in dozens of movies and hard to forget characters.

White Men Can't Jump
In his first major role in a successful film, Woody co stars alongside Wesley Snipes
as a white basketball player who makes his money by hustling the black street ballers. The film, White Men Can't Jump, showed how the stereotypes transcend both white and black when Harrelson's character hustles people without hiding his skill of basketball. This first major success did not mean that every one of his movies would succeed, and he's been in his fair share of flops… but the success of WMCJ sealed his career as an successful actor in Hollywood.

Zombieland
Riding the wave of zombie paranoia and apocalyptic movies that are always more fun to watch than they are meaningful, Zombieland

was a huge success. Woody Harrelson is pitted with Jesse Eisenberg in his break out role as Columbus, the socially awkward and too polite individual who can only find his voice in the wasteland left over from the zombie apocalypse. Harrelson does a fantastic job of playing the red neck hick who loves nothing more to splatter zombie brains across the pavement with a wide assortment on weapons. However, the film taps into Harrelson's character, Tallahassee, softer side by showing exactly who he has lost and, in turn, the new family he finds.

No Country for Old Men
Surrounded by such a strong cast, Woody Harrelson's stellar performance in the grisly Cohen brothers action drama is often overlooked and forgotten. It is easy to see how this happens with the haunting performance of Javier Bardem's emotionally void, yet somehow complex, portrayal of the killer Anton Chigurh. Or Tommy Lee Jones award winning performance as the old, tired, and bitter sheriff. Yet Harrelson holds his own against the stellar cast and adds to it, which ultimately garnered No Country for Old Men an award for casting. Woody plays the head strong yet likeable character of the bounty hunter, Carson Wells, who is as lethal as he is friendly. W.H. is perfectly casted for this role and it is high lights the jovialness that he so often plays, along with a much darker side that viewers often forget about.