John Lithgow
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).
Known For
Credits
- 2025 · Jimpa as Jimpa
- 2025 · Dexter: Resurrection as Arthur Mitchell
- 2025 · The Rule of Jenny Pen as Dave Crealy
- 2025 · SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night as Self
- 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 · Myths and Hymns as
- 2020 · Give My Regards to Broadway as Self
- 2020 · Perry Mason as Elias Birchard 'E.B.' Jonathan
- 2020 · Stars in the House as Self - Special Guest
- 2019 · Bombshell as Roger Ailes
- 2019 · The Kelly Clarkson Show as Self
- 2019 · The Tomorrow Man as Ed Hemsler
- 2019 · Pet Sematary as Jud Crandall
- 2019 · Late Night as Walter Lovell
- 2018 · Firing Line with Margaret Hoover as
- 2018 · James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction as Self
- 2018 · The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer as Self - Guest
- 2017 · Pitch Perfect 3 as Fergus
- 2017 · Broadway: The Next Generation as Self
- 2017 · Daddy's Home 2 as Don
- 2017 · The Pulitzer At 100 as Self
- 2017 · Beatriz at Dinner as Doug Strutt
- 2017 · Trial & Error as Larry Henderson
- 2016 · Miss Sloane as Senator Ronald Sperling
- 2016 · The Crown as Winston Churchill
- 2016 · The Accountant as Lamar Blackburn
- 2016 · Shakespeare Live! From the RSC as Self - Performer
- 2015 · The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as Self - Guest
- 2015 · The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as
- 2015 · The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as Self
- 2015 · Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter as Self
- 2015 · Inside 'Interstellar' as Self
- 2014 · Variety Studio: Actors on Actors as Self
- 2014 · Interstellar as Donald
- 2014 · The Roosevelts: An Intimate History as James Roosevelt (voice)
- 2014 · The Homesman as Reverend Alfred Dowd
- 2014 · Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self
- 2014 · The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as Self
- 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
- 2012 · Finding Your Roots as Self
- 2011 · New Year's Eve as Jonathan Cox (uncredited)
- 2011 · Prohibition as Reader / H.L. Mencken (voice)
- 2011 · Rise of the Planet of the Apes as Charles Rodman
- 2010 · Conan as Self
- 2010 · Leap Year as Jack Brady
- 2009 · Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen as Self - Guest
- 2009 · The Macabre World of Lavender Williams as God
- 2009 · Confessions of a Shopaholic as Edgar West
- 2007 · ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway as Self
- 2007 · The Graham Norton Show as Self
- 2006 · Dreamgirls as Jerry Harris
- 2006 · 30 Rock as John Lithgow
- 2006 · Twenty Good Years as
- 2006 · Dexter as Arthur Mitchell
- 2006 · The One Show as Self
- 2005 · The Colbert Report as
- 2005 · Einstein's Big Idea as Narrator (voice) U.S. edition
- 2005 · The Apprentice: Martha Stewart as
- 2005 · How I Met Your Mother as Jerry Whittaker
- 2004 · The Tony Danza Show as Self
- 2004 · Kinsey as Alfred Seguine Kinsey
- 2003 · VH1 Goes Inside as
- 2003 · The Ghost of Lord Farquaad as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)
- 2003 · DreamWorks 6 Spooky Stories Collection as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)
- 2002 · E! Live from the Red Carpet as Self
- 2002 · Orange County as Bud Brumder
- 2002 · Buckaroo Banzai Declassified as Self
- 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
- 1999 · The Early Show as Self
- 1999 · Tales from the Crypt: The Robert Zemeckis Collection as Dr. Oscar Charles
- 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
- 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 · The Daily Show as Self
- 1996 · The Rosie O'Donnell Show as Self - Guest
- 1996 · 3rd Rock from the Sun as Dick Solomon
- 1995 · The Tuskegee Airmen as Senator Conyers
- 1995 · My Brother's Keeper as Tom Bradley / Bob Bradley
- 1995 · Redwood Curtain as Laird Riordan
- 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
- 1993 · The Pelican Brief as Smith Keen
- 1993 · Frasier as Madman Martinez (voice)
- 1993 · Late Night with Conan O'Brien as Self - Guest
- 1993 · The Wrong Man as Phillip Mills
- 1993 · Cliffhanger as Eric Qualen
- 1993 · Sylvester and the Magic Pebble as Narrator
- 1992 · Raising Cain as Carter Nix / Cain / Dr. Nix / Josh / Margo
- 1991 · At Play in the Fields of the Lord as Leslie Huben
- 1991 · Ricochet as Earl Talbott Blake
- 1991 · The Boys as Artie Margulies
- 1990 · Memphis Belle as Bruce Derringer
- 1990 · Ivory Hunters as Robert Carter
- 1990 · Night of 100 Stars III as Self
- 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
- 1986 · The Manhattan Project as John Mathewson
- 1986 · Resting Place as Maj. Kendall Laird
- 1985 · Santa Claus: The Movie as B.Z.
- 1985 · Amazing Stories as John Walters
- 1984 · 2010 as Dr. Walter Curnow
- 1984 · The Glitter Dome as Sgt. Marty Wellborn
- 1984 · The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension as Lord John Whorfin
- 1984 · Footloose as Rev. Shaw Moore
- 1984 · Goldilocks and the Three Bears as Goldilocks' Father
- 1983 · The Day After as Joe Huxley
- 1983 · Terms of Endearment as Sam Burns
- 1983 · Twilight Zone: The Movie as Valentine
- 1982 · Faerie Tale Theatre as Goldilocks' Father
- 1982 · The World According to Garp as Roberta Muldoon
- 1981 · Blow Out as Burke
- 1979 · All That Jazz as Lucas Sergeant
- 1979 · Rich Kids as Paul Philips
- 1978 · The Big Fix as Sam Sebastian
- 1976 · Obsession as Robert Lasalle
- 1975 · Saturday Night Live as Self - Host
- 1974 · NOVA as Narrator
- 1972 · Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues as John
- 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
- 1944 · Golden Globe Awards as Self - Nominee
- 1944 · Golden Globe Awards as Self - Presenter
- Future · Harry Potter as Albus Dumbledore
- 2024 · Art Happens Here with John Lithgow as Self
- 2023 · Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic as Self
- 2023 · Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Travelled as Self
- 2022 · Chez Bob as
- 2021 · Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes as Philip Drummond
- 2021 · Show of Titles as "There's No Business Like Show Business" Performer
- 2021 · Emily @ the Edge of Chaos as Sir Isaac Newton (voice)
- 2019 · On Broadway as Self
- 2019 · The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts as President Donald J. Trump
- 2018 · Pet Sematary: The Tale of Timmy Baterman as Jud Crandall
- 2018 · Mister Rogers: It's You I Like as Self
- 2017 · Hickory Dickory Doc as Himself
- 2017 · They All Saw a Cat as
- 2016 · Ode to Joy: Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 as Narrator
- 2015 · Best of Enemies as Voice of Gore Vidal
- 2015 · Lord John as
- 2015 · Projections of America as Self - Narrator (voice)
- 2014 · The Jungle Bunch 2: The Great Treasure Quest as Maurice (voice)
- 2014 · Love Is Strange as Ben
- 2013 · Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love as Self
- 2013 · National Theatre Live: The Magistrate as Posket
- 2011 · Shrek: Once Upon a Time as Self
- 2009 · Miracle in a Box: A Piano Reborn as Narrator
- 2008 · Car of the Future as Narrator
- 2006 · The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays as René Gallimard (segment "M. Butterfly")
- 2006 · The Great Robot Race: The DARPA Grand Challenge as Narrator
- 2006 · Sangre as Cafe chef and owner
- 2004 · The Life and Death of Peter Sellers as Blake Edwards
- 2004 · Dogs and More Dogs as Narrator
- 2003 · Bark, George as
- 2000 · 95 Worlds and Counting as Narrator
- 1997 · Officer Buckle and Gloria as Narrator (voice)
- 1996 · Special Effects: Anything Can Happen as Narrator
- 1995 · Tales from the Crypt: You, Murderer as Dr. Oscar Charles
- 1995 · American Cinema as Narrator
- 1994 · Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects as Self
- 1994 · American Cinema as
- 1993 · The Country Mouse & the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale as Alexander (voice)
- 1993 · Love, Cheat & Steal as Paul Harrington
- 1990 · Amazing Stories: The Movie II as John Walters (archive footage)
- 1990 · John Lithgow's Kid-Sized Concert as
- 1987 · The Amazing Bone as Narrator
- 1987 · Baby Girl Scott as Neil Scott
- 1985 · Santa Claus: The Making of the Movie as Self
- 1985 · Mesmerized as Oliver Thompson
- 1984 · 2010 : The Odyssey Continues as Himself
- 1982 · Not in Front of the Children as Richard Carruthers
- 1982 · I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can as Mr. Brunner
- 1980 · Big Blonde as Herbie Morse
- 1980 · Mom, the Wolfman and Me as Wally
- 1980 · The Oldest Living Graduate as Clarence
- 1977 · Secret Service as Capt. Thorne
- 1974 · The Country Girl as Paul Unger
- 1951 · Hallmark Hall of Fame as Paul Unger
- 1951 · Hallmark Hall of Fame as Major Kendall Laird
- 1951 · Hallmark Hall of Fame as Laird Riordan
- Future · Sequestered - Inside Conclave as Self