John Lithgow

Acting

John Lithgow

Born 1945-10-19 · Rochester, New York, USA

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).

Acting credits

Interstellar poster
8.5

The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.

Interstellar

2014

Shrek poster
7.8

It ain't easy bein' green -- especially if you're a likable (albeit smelly) ogre named Shrek. On a mission to retrieve a gorgeous princess from the clutches of a fire-breathing dragon, Shrek teams up with an unlikely compatriot -- a wisecracking donkey.

Shrek

2001

Killers of the Flower Moon poster
7.4

When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one—until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.

Killers of the Flower Moon

2023

Rise of the Planet of the Apes poster
7.4

A highly intelligent chimpanzee named Caesar has been living a peaceful suburban life ever since he was born. But when he gets taken to a cruel primate facility, Caesar decides to revolt against those who have harmed him.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

2011

Conclave poster
7.2

After the unexpected death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with managing the covert and ancient ritual of electing a new one. Sequestered in the Vatican with the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders until the process is complete, Lawrence finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could lead to its downfall.

Conclave

2024

Dreamgirls poster
6.7

A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.

Dreamgirls

2006

The Accountant poster
7.1

As a math savant uncooks the books for a new client, the Treasury Department closes in on his activities and the body count starts to rise.

The Accountant

2016

Miss Sloane poster
7.4

An ambitious lobbyist faces off against the powerful gun lobby in an attempt to pass gun control legislation.

Miss Sloane

2016

Twilight Zone: The Movie poster
6.5

An anthology film presenting remakes of three episodes from the "Twilight Zone" TV series—"Kick the Can", "It's a Good Life" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"—and one original story, "Time Out."

Twilight Zone: The Movie

1983

All That Jazz poster
7.5

Joe Gideon is at the top of the heap, one of the most successful directors and choreographers in musical theater. But he can feel his world slowly collapsing around him - his obsession with work has almost destroyed his personal life, and only his bottles of pills keep him going.

All That Jazz

1979

Confessions of a Shopaholic poster
6.5

In the glamorous world of New York City, Rebecca Bloomwood is a fun-loving girl who is really good at shopping – a little too good, perhaps. She dreams of working for her favorite fashion magazine, but can't quite get her foot in the door – until ironically, she snags a job as an advice columnist for a financial magazine published by the same company.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

2009

Cliffhanger poster
6.5

A year after losing his friend in a tragic 4,000-foot fall, former ranger Gabe Walker and his partner, Hal, are called to return to the same peak to rescue a group of stranded climbers, only to learn the climbers are actually thieving hijackers who are looking for boxes full of money.

Cliffhanger

1993

The Pelican Brief poster
6.6

A law student's theory about the recent deaths of two Supreme Court justices embroils her in a far-reaching web of murder, corruption, and greed.

The Pelican Brief

1993

Pet Sematary poster
5.7

Dr. Louis Creed and his wife, Rachel, move from Boston to Ludlow, in rural Maine, with their two young children. Hidden in the woods near the new family home, Ellie, their eldest daughter, discovers a mysterious cemetery where the pets of community members are buried.

Pet Sematary

2019

2010 poster
6.7

While planet Earth poises on the brink of nuclear self-destruction, a team of Russian and American scientists aboard the Leonov hurtles to a rendezvous with the still-orbiting Discovery spacecraft and its sole known survivor, the homicidal computer HAL.

2010

1984

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension poster
6.0

Adventurer/surgeon/rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his band of men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, take on evil alien invaders from the 8th dimension.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

1984

Footloose poster
6.7

When teenager Ren and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small town in the West, he's in for a real case of culture shock after discovering he's living in a place where music and dancing are illegal.

Footloose

1984

Spellbound poster
6.6

When a powerful spell turns her parents into giant monsters, a teenage princess must journey into the wild to reverse the curse before it's too late.

Spellbound

2024

Bombshell poster
6.8

Bombshell is a revealing look inside the most powerful and controversial media empire of all time; and the explosive story of the women who brought down the infamous man who created it.

Bombshell

2019

Harry and the Hendersons poster
6.1

Returning from a hunting trip in the forest, the Henderson family's car hits an animal in the road. At first they fear it was a man, but when they examine the "body" they find it's a "bigfoot". They think it's dead so they decide to take it home (there could be some money in this). As you guessed, it isn't dead. Far from being the ferocious monster they fear "Harry" to be, he's a friendly giant.

Harry and the Hendersons

1987

Daddy's Home 2 poster
6.3

Father and stepfather Dusty and Brad join forces to make Christmastime perfect for the children. Their newfound partnership soon gets put to the test when Dusty's old-school, macho dad and Brad's gentle father arrive to turn the holiday upside down. After a sudden change in plans, the four men decide to take the kids to a luxury resort for a fun-filled getaway that turns into a hilarious and chaotic adventure.

Daddy's Home 2

2017

Blow Out poster
7.4

While recording sound effects for a slasher flick, Jack Terry stumbles upon a real-life horror: a car careening off a bridge and into a river. Jack jumps into the water and fishes out Sally from the car, but the other passenger is already dead — a governor intending to run for president. As Jack does some investigating of his tapes, and starts a perilous romance with Sally, he enters a tangled web of conspiracy that might leave him dead.

Blow Out

1981

Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic poster
7.6

Featuring interviews from members of the casting, production design, costume design, and creature effects teams, follow the behind-the-scenes journey of bringing the Harry Potter books to the small screen. Find out how the new Golden Trio were found, and celebrate the commitment to detail of the artists, craftspeople, and technicians who have come together to bring the wizarding world to life.

Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic

2026

Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects poster
9.0

Documentary focused on the creation of movie and television special effects, hosted by Roy Scheider and Jonathan Brandis, featuring behind the scenes look at how the visual effects were created for popular films of the era.

Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects

1994