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)
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
as Prosecutor Peter Leaward
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
as Charles Rodman
The Accountant (2016)
as Lamar Blackburn
Conclave (2024)
as Tremblay
Pet Sematary (2019)
as Jud Crandall
Daddy's Home 2 (2017)
as Don
New Year's Eve (2011)
as Jonathan Cox (uncredited)
The Pelican Brief (1993)
as Smith Keen
Miss Sloane (2016)
as Senator Ronald Sperling
Bombshell (2019)
as Roger Ailes
Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)
as Fergus
Cliffhanger (1993)
as Qualen
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)
as Edgar West
This Is 40 (2012)
as Oliver
Blow Out (1981)
as Burke
Leap Year (2010)
as Jack Brady
Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic (2026)
as Self
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
as Valentine
All That Jazz (1979)
as Lucas Sergeant
The Campaign (2012)
as Glen Motch
Footloose (1984)
as Rev. Shaw Moore
The Homesman (2014)
as Reverend Alfred Dowd
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000)
as Jean-Claude (voice)
Spellbound (2024)
as Bolinar (voice)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
as Lord John Whorfin
Orange County (2002)
as Bud Brumder
Dreamgirls (2006)
as Jerry Harris
Late Night (2019)
as Walter Lovell
2010 (1984)
as Dr. Walter Curnow
Harry and the Hendersons (1987)
as George Henderson
Shrek 3-D (2004)
as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)
Terms of Endearment (1983)
as Sam Burns
The Bubble (2022)
as Tom the Studio Chairman
Sharper (2023)
as Richard Hobbes
The Day After (1983)
as Joe Huxley
A Civil Action (1998)
as Judge Walter J. Skinner
Memphis Belle (1990)
as Bruce Derringer
Ricochet (1991)
as Earl Talbott Blake
Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
as B.Z.
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)
as Blake Edwards
ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway (2007)
as Self
The Rule of Jenny Pen (2025)
as Dave Crealy
The World According to Garp (1982)
as Roberta Muldoon
Raising Cain (1992)
as Carter Nix / Cain / Dr. Nix / Josh / Margo
The Oldest Living Graduate (1980)
as Clarence
Love Is Strange (2014)
as Ben
Princess Caraboo (1994)
as Professor Wilkinson
Kinsey (2004)
as Alfred Seguine Kinsey
Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special (1999)
as (archive footage)
The Manhattan Project (1986)
as John Mathewson
A Good Man in Africa (1994)
as Arthur Fanshawe, British High Commissioner
Resting Place (1986)
as Maj. Kendall Laird
The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)
as Senator Conyers
Obsession (1976)
as Robert Lasalle
Cabrini (2024)
as Mayor Gould
Redwood Curtain (1995)
as Laird Riordan
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic (2023)
as Self
Broadway: The Next Generation (—)
as Self
Distant Thunder (1988)
as Mark Lambert
The Big Fix (1978)
as Sam Sebastian
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes (2021)
as Philip Drummond
The Tomorrow Man (2019)
as Ed Hemsler
Shrek: Once Upon a Time (2011)
as Self
Night of 100 Stars III (1990)
as Self
Beatriz at Dinner (2017)
as Doug Strutt
Jimpa (2026)
as Jimpa
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays (2006)
as René Gallimard (segment "M. Butterfly")
Happy Birthday, Bugs! 50 Looney Years (1990)
as Self
Inside 'Interstellar' (2015)
as Self
Einstein's Big Idea (2005)
as Narrator (voice) U.S. edition
Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects (1994)
as Self
At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991)
as Leslie Huben
The Pulitzer At 100 (2017)
as Self
Love, Cheat & Steal (1993)
as Paul Harrington
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982)
as Mr. Brunner
Mister Rogers: It's You I Like (2018)
as Self
My Brother's Keeper (1995)
as Tom Bradley / Bob Bradley
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC (2016)
as Self - Performer
Best of Enemies (2015)
as Voice of Gore Vidal
Amazing Stories: The Movie II (1990)
as John Walters
Homegrown (1998)
as Malcolm / Robert Stockman
Show of Titles (2021)
as "There's No Business Like Show Business" Performer
Not in Front of the Children (1982)
as Richard Carruthers
Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972)
as John
Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love (2013)
as Self
Shrek Stories (2013)
as Lord Farquaad (voice)
Don Quixote (2000)
as Don Quixote de La Mancha / Alonso Quixano
Silent Fall (1994)
as Dr. Rene Harlinger
Johnny Skidmarks (1998)
as Sergeant Larry Skovik
Emily @ the Edge of Chaos (2021)
as Sir Isaac Newton (voice)
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (2001)
as Lord Farquaad (singing voice)
Goldilocks and the Three Bears (1984)
as Goldilocks' Father
The Jungle Bunch 2: The Great Treasure Quest (2014)
as Maurice (voice)
9 Kisses (2014)
as Man in Club
Timms Valley (2013)
as Ol' Gregory Timms
Casting By (2012)
as Self
Out Cold (1989)
as Dave
Mom, the Wolfman and Me (1980)
as Wally
The Macabre World of Lavender Williams (2009)
as God
Big Blonde (1980)
as Herbie Morse
2010 : The Odyssey Continues (1984)
as Himself
Tales from the Crypt: The Robert Zemeckis Collection (1999)
as Dr. Oscar Charles
Giant (2026)
as Roald Dahl
Santa Claus: The Making of the Movie (1985)
as Self
Give My Regards to Broadway (2020)
as Self
Rich Kids (1979)
as Paul Philips
Myths and Hymns (2021)
Actor
National Theatre Live: The Magistrate (2013)
as Posket
Buckaroo Banzai Declassified (2002)
as Self
Hollow Point (1996)
as Thomas Livingston
Sangre (2006)
as Cafe chef and owner
The Glitter Dome (1984)
as Sgt. Marty Wellborn
Footloose: A Modern Musical (2004)
as Self
Pet Sematary: The Tale of Timmy Baterman (2018)
as Jud Crandall
Special Effects: Anything Can Happen (1996)
as Narrator
Mesmerized (1985)
as Oliver Thompson
Stallone on the Edge: The Making of Cliffhanger (1993)
as Self
On Broadway (2019)
as Self
Traveling Man (1989)
as Ben Cluett
The Boys (1991)
as Artie Margulies
Art Happens Here with John Lithgow (2024)
as Self
Miracle in a Box: A Piano Reborn (2009)
as Narrator
The Country Girl (1974)
as Paul Unger
The Country Mouse & the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale (1993)
as Alexander (voice)
Car of the Future (2008)
as Narrator
Ivory Hunters (1990)
as Robert Carter
Lord John (2015)
Actor
Chez Bob (2022)
Actor
Officer Buckle and Gloria (1997)
as Narrator (voice)
Secret Service (1977)
as Capt. Thorne
Baby Girl Scott (1987)
as Neil Scott
The Wrong Man (1993)
as Phillip Mills
The Great Robot Race: The DARPA Grand Challenge (2006)
as Narrator
Dogs and More Dogs (2004)
as Narrator
The Amazing Bone (1987)
as Narrator
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1993)
as Narrator
Bark, George (2003)
Actor
John Lithgow's Kid-Sized Concert (1990)
Actor
Ode to Joy: Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (2016)
as Narrator
Hickory Dickory Doc (2017)
as Himself
They All Saw a Cat (2017)
Actor
95 Worlds and Counting (2000)
as Narrator
Projections of America (2015)
as Self - Narrator (voice)
The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts (2019)
as President Donald J. Trump