William Gareth Jacob "Gary" Busey (born June 29, 1944) is an American film and stage actor and artist. He is most famous for his roles in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Buddy Holly Story, Big Wednesday, Lethal Weapon, Point Break, The Firm, Gingerdead Man, Black Sheep, Rookie of the Year, Drop Zone, and Under Siege.

Busey was born in Goose Creek (now Baytown), Texas, the son of Sadie Virginia (née Arnett), a homemaker, and Delmer Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager. He graduated from Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While attending Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas on a football scholarship, he became interested in acting. He is listed as one of the university's "outstanding alumni." He then transferred to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, where he quit school just one class short of graduation.

In 1971, wife Judy Helkenberg gave birth to his son, William Gareth Jacob Busey, Jr., now known as actor Jake Busey. Busey and Judy divorced when Jake was nineteen.