Portrait of John Lithgow

John Lithgow

Acting

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).

Born: October 19, 1945

Place of Birth: Rochester, New York, USA

Filmography

2025
Jimpa

as Jimpa

2025
Dexter: Resurrection

as Arthur Mitchell

2025
The Rule of Jenny Pen

as Dave Crealy

2024
Spellbound

as Bolinar (voice)

2024
Conclave

as Tremblay

2024
Cabrini

as Mayor Gould

2023
Killers of the Flower Moon

as Prosecutor Peter Leaward

2023
Sharper

as Richard Hobbes

2022
Sherri

as Self - Guest

2022
The Old Man

as Harold Harper

2022
The Bubble

as Tom the Studio Chairman

2021
Dexter: New Blood

as Arthur Mitchell

2021
Show of Titles

as "There's No Business Like Show Business" Performer

2021
Emily @ the Edge of Chaos

as Sir Isaac Newton (voice)

2020
Perry Mason

as Elias Birchard 'E.B.' Jonathan

2020
Stars in the House

as Self - Special Guest

2019
Bombshell

as Roger Ailes

2019
2019
The Tomorrow Man

as Ed Hemsler

2019
Pet Sematary

as Jud Crandall

2019
Late Night

as Walter Lovell

2017
2017
2017
Beatriz at Dinner

as Doug Strutt

2017
Trial & Error

as Larry Henderson

2017
2016
Miss Sloane

as Senator Ronald Sperling

2016
The Crown

as Winston Churchill

2016
The Accountant

as Lamar Blackburn

2016
2015
Best of Enemies

as Voice of Gore Vidal

2015
Projections of America

as Self - Narrator (voice)

2014
Interstellar

as Donald

2014
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History

as James Roosevelt (voice)

2014
2014
The Homesman

as Reverend Alfred Dowd

2013
Timms Valley

as Ol' Gregory Timms

2013
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

as The White Rabbit (voice)

2013
Shrek Stories

as Lord Farquaad (voice)

2012
This Is 40

as Oliver

2012
Casting By

as Self

2012
The Campaign

as Glen Motch

2011
New Year's Eve

as Jonathan Cox (uncredited)

2011
Prohibition

as Reader / H.L. Mencken (voice)

2011
2010
Conan

as Self

2010
Leap Year

as Jack Brady

2008
2006
Dreamgirls

as Jerry Harris

2006
30 Rock

as John Lithgow

2006
Dexter

as Arthur Mitchell

2006
2006
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays

as René Gallimard (segment "M. Butterfly")

2005
Einstein's Big Idea

as Narrator (voice) U.S. edition

2005
How I Met Your Mother

as Jerry Whittaker

2004
Kinsey

as Alfred Seguine Kinsey

2003
DreamWorks 6 Spooky Stories Collection

as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)

2003
The Ghost of Lord Farquaad

as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)

2002
2002
Orange County

as Bud Brumder

2001
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party

as Lord Farquaad (singing voice)

2001
Shrek

as Lord Farquaad (voice)

2000
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie

as Jean-Claude (voice)

2000
Don Quixote

as Don Quixote de La Mancha / Alonso Quixano

2000
1999
1998
A Civil Action

as Judge Walter J. Skinner

1998
Homegrown

as Malcolm / Robert Stockman

1998
Johnny Skidmarks

as Sergeant Larry Skovik

1997
The View

as Self

1997
The View

as Self - Guest

1997
Officer Buckle and Gloria

as Narrator (voice)

1996
Hollow Point

as Thomas Livingston

1996
Cosby

as John Lithgow

1996
The West

as Self

1996
The West

as Self / Uriah Oblinger (voice)

1996
1996
1996
3rd Rock from the Sun

as Dick Solomon

1995
The Tuskegee Airmen

as Senator Conyers

1995
Redwood Curtain

as Laird Riordan

1995
My Brother's Keeper

as Tom Bradley / Bob Bradley

1994
Silent Fall

as Dr. Rene Harlinger

1994
Princess Caraboo

as Professor Wilkinson

1994
A Good Man in Africa

as Arthur Fanshawe, British High Commissioner

1994
World War II: When Lions Roared

as Franklin Delano Roosevelt

1994
American Cinema

as Self - Host

1993
Love, Cheat & Steal

as Paul Harrington

1993
The Pelican Brief

as Smith Keen

1993
Frasier

as Madman Martinez (voice)

1993
The Wrong Man

as Phillip Mills

1993
Cliffhanger

as Eric Qualen

1992
Raising Cain

as Carter Nix / Cain / Dr. Nix / Josh / Margo

1991
Ricochet

as Earl Talbott Blake

1991
The Boys

as Artie Margulies

1990
Amazing Stories: The Movie II

as John Walters (archive footage)

1990
Memphis Belle

as Bruce Derringer

1990
Ivory Hunters

as Robert Carter

1989
The Simpsons

as Gus (voice)

1989
The Simpsons

as John Lithgow (voice)

1989
Traveling Man

as Ben Cluett

1989
Tales from the Crypt

as Dr. Oscar Charles

1989
Out Cold

as Dave

1988
Distant Thunder

as Mark Lambert

1987
Harry and the Hendersons

as George Henderson

1987
The Amazing Bone

as Narrator

1986
The Manhattan Project

as John Mathewson

1986
Resting Place

as Maj. Kendall Laird

1985
Mesmerized

as Oliver Thompson

1985
Amazing Stories

as John Walters

1984
2010

as Dr. Walter Curnow

1984
The Glitter Dome

as Sgt. Marty Wellborn

1984
Footloose

as Rev. Shaw Moore

1984
Goldilocks and the Three Bears

as Goldilocks' Father

1983
The Day After

as Joe Huxley

1983
1983
1982
Faerie Tale Theatre

as Goldilocks' Father

1982
The World According to Garp

as Roberta Muldoon

1981
Blow Out

as Burke

1980
Big Blonde

as Herbie Morse

1979
All That Jazz

as Lucas Sergeant

1979
Rich Kids

as Paul Philips

1978
The Big Fix

as Sam Sebastian

1977
Secret Service

as Capt. Thorne

1976
Obsession

as Robert Lasalle

1975
Saturday Night Live

as Self - Host

1974
NOVA

as Narrator

1974
The Country Girl

as Paul Unger

1971
Great Performances

as Capt. Thorne

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Presenter

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Nominee / Performer

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Winner

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Nominee

1956
Tony Awards

as Self - Nominee/Performer

1953
The Oscars

as Self - Presenter

1952
Today

as Self

1951
1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame

as Major Kendall Laird

1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame

as Laird Riordan

1944
Golden Globe Awards

as Self - Nominee

1944
Golden Globe Awards

as Self - Presenter

1944
Golden Globe Awards

as Self - Winner

----
Harry Potter

as Albus Dumbledore