William Brotherton grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and hopped freight trains for fun as a youth. Always adventurous, and satisfying a childhood dream of his, he became a railroad brakeman, conductor and trainmaster for the Burlington Northern Railway in North Dakota, and worked freight trains throughout the Midwest, ending up as a trainmaster in Denver. His book, "Burlington Northern Adventures: Railroading in the Days of the Caboose", tells about those days, and much more. In his varied career, he has worked as a respiratory therapist, driven tractor-trailers, worked as an oilfield roughneck, operated sewage treatment plants, and taught environmental law at Texas Christian University, among many other things. In 1994, he became a licensed attorney in Texas, and his many courtroom appearances, and frequent speaking opportunities, led him to pursue acting. Heavens Fall with Timothy Hutton and David Strathairn is his first movie appearance.