Raised in a working-class family in New Jersey, Willis attended Montclair State College because of its highly regarded theatre department. After numerous auditions, he landed a role in the play Heaven and Earth in 1977, which was incentive enough for him to quit school and move to Hell's Kitchen to pursue an acting career. Soon he was cast in off-Broadway plays and television commercials, while occasionally playing his harmonica and sitting in rhythm and blues bands. His acting breakthrough came in 1984 when he replaced the lead in Sam Shepard's hit play Fool for Love, a run which lasted for 100 performances off-Broadway. Later that year while on a trip to Los Angeles, Willis was selected from 3,000 contenders to star as David Addison in the phenomenally popular television series "Moonlighting," for which he would win an Emmy and Golden Globe Award and ultimately become an international star.

In 1986, his continued pursuit of the love of music resulted in the release of an album for Motown Records entitle Bruce Willis: The Return of Bruce, which eventually went platinum, hanging on the charts for over 29 weeks. His remake of the single "Respect Yourself" landed at an impressive number five on the charts. In 1989, he released his second album, If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes you Stronger, also for Motown.

Willis made his feature film debut opposite Kim Bassinger in the Blake Edward's comedy Blind Date. He then reunited with the director to play Tom Mix in the murder mystery Sunset before going on to star in the block buster motion picture Die Hard, one of the highest-grossing films of 1988.

The following year, Willis took a dramatic turn by portraying a Vietnam War veteran haunted by combat memories in Norman Jewison's In Country. Returning to comedy, Willis proved the voice of Mikey, the wisecracking baby in the highly successful Look Who's Talking and it's sequel, Look Who's Talking, Too.