John Lithgow
John Lithgow
Biography
John Arthur Lithgow (/ˈlɪθɡoʊ/ LITH-goh; 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). Description above from the Wikipedia article John Lithgow, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
217
Gender
Male
Birthday
1945-10-19 (79 years old)
Place of Birth
Rochester, New York, USA
Acting

2025

The Rule of Jenny Pen as Dave Crealy

2024

Conclave as Tremblay

2024

Spellbound as Bolinar (voice)

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

Ultra City Smiths as Ol' Gregory Timms

2021

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

2020

Stars in the House as Self - Special Guest

2020

Perry Mason as Elias Birchard 'E.B.' Jonathan

2019

Pet Sematary as Jud Crandall

2019

Bombshell as Roger Ailes

2019

Late Night as Walter Lovell

2019

On Broadway as Self

2019

The Tomorrow Man as Ed Hemsler

2018

Firing Line with Margaret Hoover as Not available

2017

Daddy's Home 2 as Don

2017

Pitch Perfect 3 as Fergus

2017

Trial & Error as Larry Henderson

2017

Beatriz at Dinner as Doug Strutt

2016

The Crown as Winston Churchill

2016

The Accountant as Lamar Blackburn

2016

Miss Sloane as Senator Ronald Sperling

2015

Best of Enemies as Self

2014

Interstellar as Donald

2014

The Roosevelts: An Intimate History as James Roosevelt (voice)

2014

The Homesman as Reverend Alfred Dowd

2014

Love Is Strange as Ben

2014

9 Kisses as Man in Club

2013

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland as The White Rabbit (voice)

2013

Shrek Stories as Lord Farquaad (voice)

2013

Timms Valley as Ol' Gregory Timms

2012

Finding Your Roots as Self

2012

This Is 40 as Oliver

2012

The Campaign as Glen Motch

2012

Casting By as Self

2011

Rise of the Planet of the Apes as Charles Rodman

2011

New Year's Eve as Jonathan Cox (uncredited)

2011

Prohibition as Reader / H.L. Mencken (voice)

2010

Conan as Self

2010

Leap Year as Jack Brady

2009

Confessions of a Shopaholic as Edgar West

2006

Dexter as Arthur Mitchell

2006

30 Rock as John Lithgow

2006

Dreamgirls as Jerry Harris

2006

Twenty Good Years as Not available

2005

The Colbert Report as Not available

2005

How I Met Your Mother as Jerry Whittaker

2005

The Apprentice: Martha Stewart as Not available

2004

The Tony Danza Show as Self

2004

Kinsey as Alfred Seguine Kinsey

2003

VH1 Goes Inside as Not available

2003

The Ghost of Lord Farquaad as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)

2002

Orange County as Bud Brumder

2001

Shrek as Lord Farquaad (voice)

2001

Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party as Lord Farquaad (singing 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

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

The Daily Show as Self

1996

3rd Rock from the Sun as Dick Solomon

1996

Cosby as John Lithgow

1996

The Rosie O'Donnell Show as Self - Guest

1996

The West as Self

1996

The West as Self / Uriah Oblinger (voice)

1996

Hollow Point as Thomas Livingston

1995

The Tuskegee Airmen as Senator Conyers

1994

American Cinema as Not available

1994

World War II: When Lions Roared as Franklin Delano Roosevelt

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

1993

Late Night with Conan O'Brien as Self - Guest

1993

Frasier as Madman Martinez (voice)

1993

Cliffhanger as Eric Qualen

1993

The Pelican Brief as Smith Keen

1993

Love, Cheat & Steal as Paul Harrington

1992

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

1991

Ricochet as Earl Talbott Blake

1990

Memphis Belle as Bruce Derringer

1989

The Simpsons as Gus (voice)

1989

The Simpsons as John Lithgow (voice)

1989

Tales from the Crypt as Dr. Oscar Charles

1988

Distant Thunder as Mark Lambert

1987

Harry and the Hendersons as George Henderson

1986

The Manhattan Project as John Mathewson

1985

Amazing Stories as John Walters

1985

Mesmerized as Oliver Thompson

1984

Footloose as Rev. Shaw Moore

1984

2010 as Dr. Walter Curnow

1983

Twilight Zone: The Movie as Valentine

1983

Terms of Endearment as Sam Burns

1983

The Day After as Joe Huxley

1982

Faerie Tale Theatre as Goldilocks' Father

1982

The World According to Garp as Roberta Muldoon

1982

I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can as Mr. Brunner

1981

Blow Out as Burke

1980

Big Blonde as Herbie Morse

1979

All That Jazz as Lucas Sergeant

1978

The Big Fix as Sam Sebastian

1976

Obsession as Robert Lasalle

1975

Saturday Night Live as Self - Host

1974

NOVA as Narrator

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

Hallmark Hall of Fame as Paul Unger

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

NaN

Harry Potter as Albus Dumbledore

2025

Jimpa as Jimpa

2022

Chez Bob as Not available

2021

Myths and Hymns as Not available

2021

Emily @ the Edge of Chaos as Sir Isaac Newton (voice)

2017

The Pulitzer At 100 as Self

2017

They All Saw a Cat as Not available

2017

Hickory Dickory Doc as Himself

2016

Shakespeare Live! From the RSC as Self - Performer

2015

Projections of America as Self - Narrator (voice)

2015

Lord John as Not available

2008

Car of the Future as Narrator

2006

The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays as René Gallimard (segment "M. Butterfly")

2006

Sangre as Cafe chef and owner

2005

Einstein's Big Idea as Narrator (voice) U.S. edition

2004

Dogs and More Dogs as Narrator

2003

Bark, George as Not available

2000

95 Worlds and Counting as Narrator

1997

Officer Buckle and Gloria as Narrator (voice)

1995

American Cinema as Narrator

1995

My Brother's Keeper as Tom Bradley / Bob Bradley

1995

Redwood Curtain as Laird Riordan

1993

The Wrong Man as Phillip Mills

1991

The Boys as Artie Margulies

1990

Ivory Hunters as Robert Carter

1990

John Lithgow's Kid-Sized Concert as Not available

1989

Out Cold as Dave

1989

Traveling Man as Ben Cluett

1987

Baby Girl Scott as Neil Scott

1987

The Amazing Bone as Narrator

1986

Resting Place as Maj. Kendall Laird

1984

The Glitter Dome as Sgt. Marty Wellborn

1984

Goldilocks and the Three Bears as Goldilocks' Father

1982

Not in Front of the Children as Richard Carruthers

1979

Rich Kids as Paul Philips

NaN

Amazing Stories: The Movie II as John Walters (archive footage)

1977

Secret Service as Capt. Thorne

1974

The Country Girl as Paul Unger
Crew

2025

The Rule of Jenny Pen Executive Producer

2024

Art Happens Here with John Lithgow Executive Producer

2000

Don Quixote Executive Producer