Born 1945 (age 80) · Rochester, New York, USA
Appears in 208 titles

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).

Filmography

Interstellar
8.5
Interstellar
2014
as Donald
Shrek
7.8
Shrek
2001
as Lord Farquaad (voice)
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
7.3
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2011
as Charles Rodman
The Accountant
7.1
The Accountant
2016
as Lamar Blackburn
Killers of the Flower Moon
7.4
Killers of the Flower Moon
2023
as Prosecutor Peter Leaward
Pitch Perfect 3
6.5
Pitch Perfect 3
2017
as Fergus
Pet Sematary
5.7
Pet Sematary
2019
as Jud Crandall
Conclave
7.2
Conclave
2024
as Tremblay
Bombshell
6.8
Bombshell
2019
as Roger Ailes
Confessions of a Shopaholic
6.5
Confessions of a Shopaholic
2009
as Edgar West
Daddy's Home 2
6.3
Daddy's Home 2
2017
as Don
Cliffhanger
6.5
Cliffhanger
1993
as Qualen
This Is 40
5.9
This Is 40
2012
as Oliver
New Year's Eve
5.9
New Year's Eve
2011
as Jonathan Cox (uncredited)
Footloose
6.7
Footloose
1984
as Rev. Shaw Moore
Leap Year
6.9
Leap Year
2010
as Jack Brady
Miss Sloane
7.4
Miss Sloane
2016
as Senator Ronald Sperling
The Campaign
5.8
The Campaign
2012
as Glen Motch
The Pelican Brief
6.6
The Pelican Brief
1993
as Smith Keen
Blow Out
7.4
Blow Out
1981
as Burke