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John Lithgow

John Lithgow

Acting1945Rochester, New York, USA

Biography

John Arthur Lithgow (born October 19, 1945) is an American actor. He studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his diverse work on stage and screen. He has received numerous accolades, including six Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and two Tony Awards, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, four Grammy Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Laurence Olivier Award.

Lithgow won two Tony Awards, his first for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his Broadway debut in The Changing Room (1972) and his second for Best Actor in a Musical for the musical Sweet Smell of Success (2002). He was Tony-nominated for Requiem for a Heavyweight (1985), M. Butterfly (1988), and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005). He has acted in the plays The Columnist (2012), A Delicate Balance (2014), and Hillary and Clinton (2019). He portrayed Roald Dahl in the play Giant on the West End, for which he was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best Actor. 

He starred as Dick Solomon in the television sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996–2001), winning three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Comedy Series. He received further Primetime Emmy Awards for his performances as Arthur Mitchell in the drama Dexter (2009) and as Winston Churchill in the Netflix drama The Crown (2016–2019). He also starred in HBO's Perry Mason (2020) and FX's The Old Man (2022).

On film, he has received two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor nominations for his roles as a transsexual ex-football player in The World According to Garp (1982) and a lonely banker in Terms of Endearment (1983). He also acted in All That Jazz (1979), Blow Out (1981), Footloose (1984), Harry and the Hendersons (1987), A Civil Action (1998), Shrek (2001), Kinsey (2004), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Love Is Strange (2014), Interstellar (2014), Late Night (2019), Bombshell (2019), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), and Conclave (2024).

Acting History

2026
Jimpa
as Jimpa
2025
The Rule of Jenny Pen
as Dave Crealy
The One Show
TVas Self1 eps
The Oscars
TVas Self - Presenter1 eps
Dexter: Resurrection
TVas Arthur Mitchell1 eps
The Rule of Jenny Pen
Executive Producer
2024
Spellbound
as Bolinar (voice)
Conclave
as Tremblay
Cabrini
as Mayor Gould
The Kelly Clarkson Show
TVas Self1 eps
2023
Killers of the Flower Moon
as Prosecutor Peter Leaward
Sharper
as Richard Hobbes
2022
The Old Man
TVas Harold Harper15 eps
Sherri
TVas Self - Guest1 eps
2021
Show of Titles
as "There's No Business Like Show Business" Performer
Finding Your Roots
TVas Self1 eps
Dexter: New Blood
TVas Arthur Mitchell1 eps
2020
Perry Mason
TVas Elias Birchard 'E.B.' Jonathan8 eps
Stars in the House
TVas Self - Special Guest1 eps
2019
Pet Sematary
as Jud Crandall
Bombshell
as Roger Ailes
Late Night
as Walter Lovell
The Tomorrow Man
as Ed Hemsler
The Simpsons
TVas Gus (voice) / John Lithgow (voice)1 eps
2017
Beatriz at Dinner
as Doug Strutt
Trial & Error
TVas Larry Henderson13 eps
The Graham Norton Show
TVas Self1 eps
2016
The Accountant
as Lamar Blackburn
Miss Sloane
as Senator Ronald Sperling
The Crown
TVas Winston Churchill12 eps
2015
Best of Enemies
as Voice of Gore Vidal
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
TVas Self / Self - Guest
2013
Shrek Stories
as Lord Farquaad (voice)
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
TVas The White Rabbit (voice)
2012
Dog Fight
as Glen Motch
Casting By
as Self
This Is 40
as Oliver
2011
New Year's Eve
as Jonathan Cox (uncredited)
How I Met Your Mother
TVas Jerry Whittaker4 eps
Prohibition
TVas Reader / H.L. Mencken (voice)
2010
Leap Year
as Jack Brady
Conan
TVas Self
2009
30 Rock
TVas John Lithgow1 eps
Dexter
TVas Arthur Mitchell12 eps
2006
Dreamgirls
as Jerry Harris
Twenty Good Years
TVas John Mason13 eps
2004
Kinsey
as Alfred Seguine Kinsey
2003
The Ghost of Lord Farquaad
as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)
DreamWorks 6 Spooky Stories Collection
TVas Ghost of Farquaad (voice)
2002
Orange County
as Bud Brumder
2001
Shrek
as Lord Farquaad (voice)
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party
as Lord Farquaad (singing voice)
2000
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
as Jean-Claude (voice)
Don Quixote
as Don Quixote de La Mancha / Alonso Quixano
Don Quixote
Executive Producer
1998
Johnny Skidmarks
as Sergeant Larry Skovik
Homegrown
as Malcolm / Robert Stockman
A Civil Action
as Judge Walter J. Skinner
1997
Golden Globe Awards
TVas Self - Winner1 eps
The View
TVas Self / Self - Guest
1996
Hollow Point
as Thomas Livingston
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
TVas Self - Guest
3rd Rock from the Sun
TVas Dick Solomon139 eps
Cosby
TVas John Lithgow
The West
TVas Self / Self / Uriah Oblinger (voice)
1995
Redwood Curtain
as Laird Riordan
The Tuskegee Airmen
as Senator Conyers
Tales from the Crypt
TVas Dr. Oscar Charles1 eps
Frasier
TVas Madman Martinez (voice)1 eps
1994
Princess Caraboo
as Professor Wilkinson
Silent Fall
as Dr. Rene Harlinger
1993
Cliffhanger
as Qualen
The Wrong Man
as Phillip Mills
The Pelican Brief
as Smith Keen
1992
Raising Cain
as Carter Nix / Cain / Dr. Nix / Josh / Margo
1991
Ricochet
as Earl Talbott Blake
The Boys
as Artie Margulies
1990
Memphis Belle
as Bruce Derringer
1988
Distant Thunder
as Mark Lambert
1987
Harry and the Hendersons
as George Henderson
1986
The Manhattan Project
as John Mathewson
Amazing Stories
TVas John Walters1 eps
1985
Mesmerized
as Oliver Thompson
1984
Footloose
as Rev. Shaw Moore
2010
as Dr. Walter Curnow
Faerie Tale Theatre
TVas Goldilocks' Father1 eps
1983
The Twilight Zone
as Valentine
The Day After
as Joe Huxley
1982
The World According to Garp
as Roberta Muldoon
1981
Blow Out
as Burke
1979
All That Jazz
as Lucas Sergeant
1978
The Big Fix
as Sam Sebastian
1977
Secret Service
as Capt. Thorne
Great Performances
TVas Capt. Thorne1 eps
1976
Obsession
as Robert Lasalle
1975
Saturday Night Live
TVas Self - Host
1974
NOVA
TVas Narrator
1952
Today
TVas Self

Social Media

Personal Info

Known For
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
10/19/1945(80 years old)
Place of Birth
Rochester, New York, USA