John Lithgow
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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 transgender 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).
Known for
Credits
Interstellar (2014)
as Donald
Shrek (2001)
as Lord Farquaad (voice)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
as Charles Rodman
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
as Prosecutor Peter Leaward
The Accountant (2016)
as Lamar Blackburn
Conclave (2024)
as Tremblay
Spellbound (2024)
as Bolinar (voice)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
as Lord John Whorfin
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)
as Fergus
Leap Year (2010)
as Jack Brady
This Is 40 (2012)
as Oliver
Daddy's Home 2 (2017)
as Don
Cliffhanger (1993)
as Qualen
Pet Sematary (2019)
as Jud Crandall
The Pelican Brief (1993)
as Smith Keen
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
as Valentine
Blow Out (1981)
as Burke
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)
as Edgar West
Miss Sloane (2016)
as Senator Ronald Sperling
Footloose (1984)
as Rev. Shaw Moore
Obsession (1976)
as Robert Lasalle
The Campaign (2012)
as Glen Motch
2010 (1984)
as Dr. Walter Curnow
Harry and the Hendersons (1987)
as George Henderson
Dreamgirls (2006)
as Jerry Harris
The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025)
as Dave Crealy
New Year's Eve (2011)
as Jonathan Cox (uncredited)
Bombshell (2019)
as Roger Ailes
All That Jazz (1979)
as Lucas Sergeant
Orange County (2002)
as Bud Brumder
Late Night (2019)
as Walter Lovell
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000)
as Jean-Claude (voice)
The Bubble (2022)
as Tom the Studio Chairman
The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)
as Senator Conyers
The Homesman (2014)
as Reverend Alfred Dowd
Sharper (2023)
as Richard Hobbes
Terms of Endearment (1983)
as Sam Burns
The Day After (1983)
as Joe Huxley
Ricochet (1991)
as Earl Talbott Blake
Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic (2026)
as Self
The Manhattan Project (1986)
as John Mathewson
Raising Cain (1992)
as Carter Nix / Cain / Dr. Nix / Josh / Margo
Memphis Belle (1990)
as Bruce Derringer
A Civil Action (1998)
as Judge Walter J. Skinner
Shrek 3-D (2004)
as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)
Kinsey (2004)
as Alfred Seguine Kinsey
Jimpa (2026)
as Jimpa
On Broadway (2019)
as Self
Casting By (2012)
as Self
Princess Caraboo (1994)
as Professor Wilkinson
Homegrown (1998)
as Malcolm / Robert Stockman
The World According to Garp (1982)
as Roberta Muldoon
Don Quixote (2000)
as Don Quixote de La Mancha / Alonso Quixano
Silent Fall (1994)
as Dr. Rene Harlinger
9 Kisses (2014)
as Man in Club
Love Is Strange (2014)
as Ben
Cabrini (2024)
as Mayor Gould
Big Blonde (1980)
as Herbie Morse
Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
as B.Z.
The Big Fix (1978)
as Sam Sebastian
The Boys (1991)
as Artie Margulies
Inside 'Interstellar' (2015)
as Self
Resting Place (1986)
as Maj. Kendall Laird
Beatriz at Dinner (2017)
as Doug Strutt
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001)
as Lord Farquaad (singing voice)
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)
as Blake Edwards
Broadway: The Next Generation (—)
as Self
Show of Titles (2021)
as "There's No Business Like Show Business" Performer
Einstein's Big Idea (2005)
as Narrator (voice) U.S. edition
Night of 100 Stars III (1990)
as Self
The Tomorrow Man (2019)
as Ed Hemsler
Hollow Point (1996)
as Thomas Livingston
Out Cold (1989)
as Dave
Distant Thunder (1988)
as Mark Lambert
Timms Valley (2013)
as Ol' Gregory Timms
Happy Birthday, Bugs! 50 Looney Years (1990)
as Self
Love, Cheat & Steal (1993)
as Paul Harrington
Shrek Stories (2013)
as Lord Farquaad (voice)
Johnny Skidmarks (1998)
as Sergeant Larry Skovik
A Good Man in Africa (1994)
as Arthur Fanshawe, British High Commissioner
Best of Enemies (2015)
as Voice of Gore Vidal
Shrek: Once Upon a Time (2011)
as Self
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes (2021)
as Philip Drummond
Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972)
as John
The Wrong Man (1993)
as Phillip Mills
Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects (1994)
as Self
Rich Kids (1979)
as Paul Philips
Redwood Curtain (1995)
as Laird Riordan
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic (2023)
as Self
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982)
as Mr. Brunner
The Glitter Dome (1984)
as Sgt. Marty Wellborn
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays (2006)
as René Gallimard (segment "M. Butterfly")
At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991)
as Leslie Huben
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC (2016)
as Self - Performer
Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love (2013)
as Self
Mesmerized (1985)
as Oliver Thompson
Special Effects: Anything Can Happen (1996)
as Narrator
Ode to Joy: Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (2016)
as Narrator
The Jungle Bunch 2: The Great Treasure Quest (2014)
as Maurice (voice)
Tales from the Crypt: The Robert Zemeckis Collection (1999)
as Dr. Oscar Charles
Buckaroo Banzai Declassified (2002)
as Self
ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway (2007)
as Self
Footloose: A Modern Musical (2004)
as Self
The Country Girl (1974)
as Paul Unger
The Pulitzer At 100 (2017)
as Self
The Macabre World of Lavender Williams (2009)
as God
2010 : The Odyssey Continues (1984)
as Himself
Goldilocks and the Three Bears (1984)
as Goldilocks' Father
Not in Front of the Children (1982)
as Richard Carruthers
Giant (2026)
as Roald Dahl
Ivory Hunters (1990)
as Robert Carter
Myths and Hymns (2021)
Actor
Chez Bob (2022)
Actor
Secret Service (1977)
as Capt. Thorne
Sangre (2006)
as Cafe chef and owner
Traveling Man (1989)
as Ben Cluett
Amazing Stories: The Movie II (1990)
as John Walters (archive footage)
Santa Claus: The Making of the Movie (1985)
as Self
My Brother's Keeper (1995)
as Tom Bradley / Bob Bradley
Emily @ the Edge of Chaos (2021)
as Sir Isaac Newton (voice)
The Oldest Living Graduate (1980)
as Clarence
Baby Girl Scott (1987)
as Neil Scott
Stallone on the Edge: The Making of Cliffhanger (—)
as Self
Mom, the Wolfman and Me (1980)
as Wally
Mister Rogers: It's You I Like (2018)
as Self
95 Worlds and Counting (2000)
as Narrator
Bark, George (2003)
Actor
Lord John (2015)
Actor
Projections of America (2015)
as Self - Narrator (voice)
The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts (2019)
as President Donald J. Trump
Pet Sematary: The Tale of Timmy Baterman (2018)
as Jud Crandall
Dogs and More Dogs (2004)
as Narrator
Car of the Future (2008)
as Narrator
They All Saw a Cat (2017)
Actor
The Great Robot Race: The DARPA Grand Challenge (2006)
as Narrator
Art Happens Here with John Lithgow (2024)
as Self
The Amazing Bone (1987)
as Narrator
Officer Buckle and Gloria (1997)
as Narrator (voice)
Miracle in a Box: A Piano Reborn (2009)
as Narrator
Hickory Dickory Doc (2017)
as Himself
National Theatre Live: The Magistrate (2013)
as Posket
The Country Mouse & the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale (1993)
as Alexander (voice)
John Lithgow's Kid-Sized Concert (1990)
Actor
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1993)
as Narrator
Give My Regards to Broadway (2020)
as Self