Who is Billy Bob Thornton’s daughter, Amanda Brumfield – and are they estranged? The Landman star’s eldest was jailed for aggravated manslaughter of a child, then released for wrongful conviction

Jan 13 , 2025

Billy Bob Thornton is estranged from his daughter Amanda Brumfield. Photo: @heritagedefense/Instagram

Brumfield is the only child from Thornton’s first marriage, but he was never a present father – despite a short effort at reconciliation, the pair haven’t seemed to make it work

Oscar-winning Hollywood actor Billy Bob Thornton is on a roll. His newest show, Landman, co-created by Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan, just became the most successful Paramount+ original of all time, amassing views across 14.9 million households globally in the first four weeks.

The latest addition to Sheridan’s oeuvre of neo-Westerns, Landman taps into the Texan oil industry, with Thornton playing the leading role of Tommy Norris. The show also stars fellow A-listers Demi Moore and Jon Hamm.

Billy Bob Thornton made Landman with Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan. Photo: Paramount+/AP

Before Landman, Thornton had collaborated with Sheridan on the Yellowstone prequel 1883. It was while working on that project that Sheridan proposed the idea of Landman to him. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in November, the 69-year-old actor revealed what drew him to the project: “[Sheridan] said, ‘I’m writing a series for you called Landman, and I’m going to write it in your voice’,” Thornton shared. “And I was very intrigued … It was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is my voice!’ I think I can do this because I like to do parts that I’m right for,” he recalled.

Indeed, the Bandits star has been picky about his roles throughout his career. In a recent appearance on The Playlist’s Bingeworthy podcast, he got candid about why he turned down the offer to play Owen Davian in Mission: Impossible III (2006). “I didn’t want to be the guy trying to kill Tom Cruise,” he said.

Billy Bob Thornton stars as Tommy Norris in the series Landman. Photo: Paramount+/AP

When filming Landman, Thornton slipped into character easily, perhaps because of the parallels he found in his own life. The character of Norris is a father of two and particularly defensive about his daughter, Ainsley, played by Michelle Randolph. In real life, Thornton’s the same way with his own girl, Bella. “I’m very protective [of Bella] and it was not hard for me and Michelle Randolph to be protective of her,” he said.

But what about his other daughter, Amanda Brooke Brumfield, whom he’s now estranged from? Here’s everything we know about her.

Amanda Brumfield is Billy Bob Thornton’s first child

Amanda Brumfield is Billy Bob Thornton’s eldest child. Photo: @vitoriapricetv/X

Amanda Brooke Brumfield (née Thornton) was born to Billy Bob Thornton and his first wife, Melissa Lee Gatlin, in 1979. However, a year after she was born, the couple divorced.