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 · 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
- 2023 · Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic as Self
- 2023 · Killers of the Flower Moon as Prosecutor Peter Leaward
- 2022 · Sherri as Self - Guest
- 2022 · The Old Man as Harold Harper
- 2021 · Dexter: New Blood as Arthur Mitchell
- 2021 · Myths and Hymns as
- 2020 · Perry Mason as Elias Birchard 'E.B.' Jonathan
- 2020 · Stars in the House as Self - Special Guest
- 2019 · Bombshell as Roger Ailes
- 2019 · On Broadway as Self
- 2019 · The Kelly Clarkson Show as Self
- 2019 · Pet Sematary as Jud Crandall
- 2018 · Pet Sematary: The Tale of Timmy Baterman as Jud Crandall
- 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 · Daddy's Home 2 as Don
- 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
- 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 · The Late Late Show with James Corden as Self - Guest
- 2015 · Projections of America as Self - Narrator (voice)
- 2014 · Variety Studio: Actors on Actors as Self
- 2014 · Interstellar as Donald
- 2014 · The Roosevelts: An Intimate History as James Roosevelt (voice)
- 2014 · The Jungle Bunch 2: The Great Treasure Quest as Maurice (voice)
- 2014 · Love Is Strange as Ben
- 2014 · Late Night with Seth Meyers as Self
- 2014 · The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as Self
- 2013 · Once Upon a Time in Wonderland as The White Rabbit (voice)
- 2012 · This Is 40 as Oliver
- 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 · The Graham Norton Show as Self
- 2006 · Dreamgirls as Jerry Harris
- 2006 · 30 Rock as John Lithgow
- 2006 · Twenty Good Years as John Mason
- 2006 · Dexter as Arthur Mitchell
- 2006 · The One Show as Self
- 2005 · The Colbert Report as
- 2005 · How I Met Your Mother as Jerry Whittaker
- 2004 · The Tony Danza Show as Self
- 2003 · Jimmy Kimmel Live! as Self - Guest
- 2002 · Live from E! as Self
- 2001 · Shrek as Lord Farquaad (voice)
- 2000 · Don Quixote as Don Quixote de La Mancha / Alonso Quixano
- 1999 · The Early Show as Self
- 1998 · A Civil Action as Judge Walter J. Skinner
- 1997 · The View as Self
- 1997 · The View as Self - Guest
- 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
- 1994 · Silent Fall as Dr. Rene Harlinger
- 1994 · American Cinema as Self - Host
- 1993 · The Pelican Brief as Smith Keen
- 1993 · Frasier as Madman Martinez (voice)
- 1993 · Late Night with Conan O'Brien as Self - Guest
- 1993 · Cliffhanger as Qualen
- 1992 · Raising Cain as Carter Nix / Cain / Dr. Nix / Josh / Margo
- 1990 · Ivory Hunters as Robert Carter
- 1989 · The Simpsons as Gus (voice)
- 1989 · The Simpsons as John Lithgow (voice)
- 1989 · Tales from the Crypt as Dr. Oscar Charles
- 1985 · Amazing Stories as John Walters
- 1984 · 2010 as Dr. Walter Curnow
- 1984 · The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension as Lord John Whorfin
- 1984 · Footloose as Rev. Shaw Moore
- 1983 · Terms of Endearment as Sam Burns
- 1983 · Twilight Zone: The Movie as Valentine
- 1982 · Faerie Tale Theatre as Goldilocks' Father
- 1981 · Blow Out as Burke
- 1980 · The Oldest Living Graduate as Clarence
- 1979 · Rich Kids as Paul Philips
- 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
- 1962 · The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson as Self
- 1953 · The Oscars as Self - Presenter
- 1952 · Today as Self
- 1944 · Golden Globe Awards as Self - Nominee
- 1944 · Golden Globe Awards as Self - Presenter
- 1944 · Golden Globe Awards as Self - Winner
- Future · Broadway: The Next Generation as Self
- Future · Sequestered - Inside Conclave as Self
- 2026 · Jimpa as Jimpa
- 2024 · Cabrini as Mayor Gould
- 2023 · Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Travelled as Self
- 2023 · Sharper as Richard Hobbes
- 2022 · The Bubble as Tom the Studio Chairman
- 2021 · Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes as Philip Drummond
- 2019 · The Tomorrow Man as Ed Hemsler
- 2019 · Late Night as Walter Lovell
- 2017 · Beatriz at Dinner as Doug Strutt
- 2015 · Best of Enemies as Voice of Gore Vidal
- 2015 · Inside 'Interstellar' as Self
- 2014 · The Homesman as Reverend Alfred Dowd
- 2013 · Timms Valley as Ol' Gregory Timms
- 2013 · Shrek Stories as Lord Farquaad (voice)
- 2013 · National Theatre Live: The Magistrate as Posket
- 2007 · ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway as Self
- 2005 · Einstein's Big Idea as Narrator (voice) U.S. edition
- 2005 · The Apprentice: Martha Stewart as
- 2004 · Kinsey as Alfred Seguine Kinsey
- 2003 · VH1 Goes Inside as
- 2003 · DreamWorks 6 Spooky Stories Collection as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)
- 2003 · The Ghost of Lord Farquaad as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)
- 2002 · Orange County as Bud Brumder
- 2000 · Rugrats in Paris: The Movie as Jean-Claude (voice)
- 1998 · Homegrown as Malcolm / Robert Stockman
- 1995 · The Tuskegee Airmen as Senator Conyers
- 1995 · Redwood Curtain as Laird Riordan
- 1994 · Princess Caraboo as Professor Wilkinson
- 1994 · A Good Man in Africa as Arthur Fanshawe, British High Commissioner
- 1994 · Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects as Self
- 1994 · World War II: When Lions Roared as Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- 1992 · Tales from the Crypt - Uncut as
- 1991 · At Play in the Fields of the Lord as Leslie Huben
- 1991 · Ricochet as Earl Talbott Blake
- 1990 · Amazing Stories: The Movie II as John Walters (archive footage)
- 1990 · Memphis Belle as Bruce Derringer
- 1990 · Night of 100 Stars III as Self
- 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.
- 1984 · Goldilocks and the Three Bears as Goldilocks' Father
- 1984 · 2010 : The Odyssey Continues as Himself
- 1983 · The Day After as Joe Huxley
- 1982 · The World According to Garp as Roberta Muldoon
- 1980 · Big Blonde as Herbie Morse
- 1979 · All That Jazz as Lucas Sergeant
- 1976 · Obsession as Robert Lasalle
- 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 · Harry Potter as Albus Dumbledore
- 2024 · Art Happens Here with John Lithgow as Self
- 2022 · Chez Bob as
- 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 · Give My Regards to Broadway as Self
- 2019 · The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts as President Donald J. Trump
- 2018 · Mister Rogers: It's You I Like as Self
- 2017 · The Pulitzer At 100 as Self
- 2017 · Hickory Dickory Doc as Himself
- 2017 · They All Saw a Cat as
- 2016 · Shakespeare Live! From the RSC as Self - Performer
- 2016 · Ode to Joy: Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 as Narrator
- 2015 · Lord John as
- 2014 · 9 Kisses as Man in Club
- 2013 · Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love as Self
- 2012 · Casting By as Self
- 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 · Shrek 3-D as Lord Farquaad
- 2003 · Bark, George as
- 2002 · Buckaroo Banzai Declassified as Self
- 2001 · Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party as Lord Farquaad (singing voice)
- 2000 · 95 Worlds and Counting as Narrator
- 1999 · Tales from the Crypt: The Robert Zemeckis Collection as Dr. Oscar Charles
- 1998 · Johnny Skidmarks as Sergeant Larry Skovik
- 1997 · Officer Buckle and Gloria as Narrator (voice)
- 1996 · Hollow Point as Thomas Livingston
- 1996 · Special Effects: Anything Can Happen as Narrator
- 1995 · My Brother's Keeper as Tom Bradley / Bob Bradley
- 1993 · The Country Mouse & the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale as Alexander (voice)
- 1993 · Love, Cheat & Steal as Paul Harrington
- 1993 · The Wrong Man as Phillip Mills
- 1993 · Sylvester and the Magic Pebble as Narrator
- 1991 · The Boys as Artie Margulies
- 1990 · John Lithgow's Kid-Sized Concert as
- 1989 · Traveling Man as Ben Cluett
- 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 · The Glitter Dome as Sgt. Marty Wellborn
- 1982 · Not in Front of the Children as Richard Carruthers
- 1982 · I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can as Mr. Brunner
- 1980 · Mom, the Wolfman and Me as Wally
- 1978 · The Big Fix as Sam Sebastian
- 1977 · Secret Service as Capt. Thorne
- 1974 · The Country Girl as Paul Unger