Tim Blake Nelson

Acting

Tim Blake Nelson

Born 1964-05-11 · Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor and playwright. Described as a "modern character actor, his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Gideon in Minority Report (2002), Doctor Steve Pendanski in Holes (2003), Doctor Jonathan Jacobo in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), Danny Dalton Jr. in Syriana (2005), Samuel Sterns in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Richard Schell in Lincoln (2012), the titular character of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), and Henry McCarty in Old Henry (2021). He portrayed Wade Tillman / Looking Glass in the HBO limited series Watchmen (2019), for which he received a Critics' Choice Television Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2020. Nelson's directorial credits include Eye of God (1997), which was nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and an Independent Spirit Award; O (2001), a modern-day adaptation of Othello; and the Holocaust drama The Grey Zone (2001). Eye of God and The Grey Zone were both adapted from Nelson's own plays. Nelson has also co-directed music videos for Billy Woods and Kenny Segal, including "Babylon by Bus" and "Soft Landing." He also co-directed the music video for Armand Hammer feat. Pink Siifu's "Trauma Mic." Nelson recently published his debut novel, City of Blows (2023), an epic group portrait of four men grappling for control of a script in a radically changing Hollywood. Description above from the Wikipedia article Tim Blake Nelson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Captain America: Brave New World poster
6.0

After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.

Captain America: Brave New World

2025

The Incredible Hulk poster
6.3

Scientist Bruce Banner scours the planet for an antidote to the unbridled force of rage within him: the Hulk. But when the military masterminds who dream of exploiting his powers force him back to civilization, he finds himself coming face to face with a new, deadly foe.

The Incredible Hulk

2008

Minority Report poster
7.4

John Anderton is a top 'Precrime' cop in the late-21st century, when technology can predict crimes before they're committed. But Anderton becomes the quarry when another investigator targets him for a murder charge.

Minority Report

2002

The Thin Red Line poster
7.4

The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.

The Thin Red Line

1998

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs poster
7.1

Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the Civil War. Following the tales of a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone gold prospector, a woman traveling the West to an uncertain future, and a motley crew of strangers undertaking a carriage ride.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

2018

Nightmare Alley poster
6.9

An ambitious carnival man with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychologist who is even more dangerous than he is.

Nightmare Alley

2021

Angel Has Fallen poster
6.6

After a treacherous attack, Secret Service agent Mike Banning is charged with attempting to assassinate President Trumbull. Chased by his own colleagues and the FBI, Banning begins a race against the clock to clear his name.

Angel Has Fallen

2019

Ghosted poster
6.9

Salt-of-the-earth Cole falls head over heels for enigmatic Sadie—but then makes the shocking discovery that she's a secret agent. Before they can decide on a second date, Cole and Sadie are swept away on an international adventure to save the world.

Ghosted

2023

O Brother, Where Art Thou? poster
7.3

In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

2000

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio poster
8.0

During the rise of fascism in Mussolini's Italy, a wooden boy brought magically to life struggles to live up to his father's expectations.

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

2022

Fantastic Four poster
4.4

Four young outsiders teleport to a dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

Fantastic Four

2015

Just Mercy poster
7.8

The powerful true story of Harvard-educated lawyer Bryan Stevenson, who goes to Alabama to defend the disenfranchised and wrongly condemned — including Walter McMillian, a man sentenced to death despite evidence proving his innocence. Bryan fights tirelessly for Walter with the system stacked against them.

Just Mercy

2019

Donnie Brasco poster
7.5

An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.

Donnie Brasco

1997

Lincoln poster
6.8

The revealing story of the 16th US President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.

Lincoln

2012

Meet the Fockers poster
6.3

Hard-to-crack ex-CIA man Jack Byrnes and his wife Dina head for the warmer climes of Florida to meet the parents of their son-in-law-to-be, Greg Focker. Unlike their happily matched offspring, the future in-laws find themselves in a situation of opposites that definitely do not attract.

Meet the Fockers

2004

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk poster
6.0

19-year-old Billy Lynn is brought home for a victory tour after a harrowing Iraq battle. Through flashbacks the film shows what really happened to his squad – contrasting the realities of war with America's perceptions.

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk

2016

Syriana poster
6.4

The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman, a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins.

Syriana

2005

Old Henry poster
7.3

A widowed farmer and his son warily take in a mysterious, injured man with a satchel of cash. When a posse of men claiming to be the law come for the money, the farmer must decide who to trust. Defending a siege of his homestead, the farmer reveals a talent for gun-slinging that surprises everyone calling his true identity into question.

Old Henry

2021

The Bricklayer poster
5.8

Someone is blackmailing the CIA by assassinating foreign journalists and making it look like the agency is responsible. As the world begins to unite against the U.S., the CIA must lure its most brilliant – and rebellious – operative out of retirement, forcing him to confront his checkered past while unraveling an international conspiracy.

The Bricklayer

2023

Holes poster
6.9

After being wrongfully convicted for stealing a pair of shoes, Stanley Yelnats is sent away to Camp Green Lake, a boys detention facility where inmates are forced to dig holes all day in the hot desert sun as a form of character building. As he endures the brutal routine, Stanley begins to uncover a hidden truth behind the camp—one that connects to a dangerous secret and his family’s history.

Holes

2003

Detachment poster
7.6

A chronicle of three weeks in the lives of several high school teachers, administrators and students through the eyes of substitute teacher, Henry Barthes. Henry roams from school to school, imparting modes of knowledge, but never staying long enough to form any semblance of sentient attachment.

Detachment

2011

The Testament of Ann Lee poster
6.3

The extraordinary true legend of Ann Lee, founder of the devotional sect known as the Shakers, who preached gender and social equality and was revered by her followers as the female Christ.

The Testament of Ann Lee

2025

Wonderland poster
6.1

On the afternoon of July 1, 1981, Los Angeles police responded to a distress call on Wonderland Avenue and discovered a grisly quadruple homicide. The police investigation that followed uncovered two versions of the events leading up to the brutal murders - both involving legendary porn actor John Holmes.

Wonderland

2003

Colossal poster
6.3

A woman discovers that severe catastrophic events are somehow connected to the mental breakdown from which she's suffering.

Colossal

2017

Behind the camera

Leaves of Grass poster
6.0

An Ivy League professor returns home, where his pot-growing twin brother has concocted a plan to take down a local drug lord.

Leaves of Grass

2009

Leaves of Grass poster
6.0

An Ivy League professor returns home, where his pot-growing twin brother has concocted a plan to take down a local drug lord.

Leaves of Grass

2009

Leaves of Grass poster
6.0

An Ivy League professor returns home, where his pot-growing twin brother has concocted a plan to take down a local drug lord.

Leaves of Grass

2009

The Grey Zone poster
6.6

The story of Auschwitz's twelfth Sonderkommando — one of the thirteen consecutive "Special Squads" of Jewish prisoners placed by the Nazis in the excruciating moral dilemma of assisting in the extermination of fellow Jews in exchange for a few more months of life.

The Grey Zone

2001

The Grey Zone poster
6.6

The story of Auschwitz's twelfth Sonderkommando — one of the thirteen consecutive "Special Squads" of Jewish prisoners placed by the Nazis in the excruciating moral dilemma of assisting in the extermination of fellow Jews in exchange for a few more months of life.

The Grey Zone

2001

The Grey Zone poster
6.6

The story of Auschwitz's twelfth Sonderkommando — one of the thirteen consecutive "Special Squads" of Jewish prisoners placed by the Nazis in the excruciating moral dilemma of assisting in the extermination of fellow Jews in exchange for a few more months of life.

The Grey Zone

2001

Anesthesia poster
5.7

Multiple lives intersect in the aftermath of the violent mugging of a Columbia University philosophy professor.

Anesthesia

2016

Anesthesia poster
5.7

Multiple lives intersect in the aftermath of the violent mugging of a Columbia University philosophy professor.

Anesthesia

2016

Anesthesia poster
5.7

Multiple lives intersect in the aftermath of the violent mugging of a Columbia University philosophy professor.

Anesthesia

2016

O poster
5.9

Even though he's the only black student at the elite Palmetto Grove Academy, star basketball player Odin James has the adoration of all, including the team's coach and the Dean's beautiful daughter Desi. Odin's troubled friend Hugo, the coach's son, deeply resentful of his father's preference of Odin on and off the court, plots a diabolical scheme to sow the seed of mistrust between O and Desi, setting in motion a disturbing chain of events which erupts into a firestorm of breathtaking intensity.

O

2001

Eye of God poster
5.8

A small Oklahoma town is stripped of its innocence when one of its boys turns up mute and bloodied by the lakeside. Unable to tell his story, the local sheriff embarks on a quest to uncover the roots of a gruesome crime. He's led to Ainsley DuPree and her new husband, Jack, a man whose interest in family may very well outweigh his morals.

Eye of God

1997

Eye of God poster
5.8

A small Oklahoma town is stripped of its innocence when one of its boys turns up mute and bloodied by the lakeside. Unable to tell his story, the local sheriff embarks on a quest to uncover the roots of a gruesome crime. He's led to Ainsley DuPree and her new husband, Jack, a man whose interest in family may very well outweigh his morals.

Eye of God

1997

No artwork available
NR

A teacher in an abusive marriage takes a job at a maximum security prison, where she falls for a charismatic inmate. The disastrous consequences call into question not only the nature of punishment and retribution, but the very limits of our humanity.

The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd

2026

No artwork available
NR

A teacher in an abusive marriage takes a job at a maximum security prison, where she falls for a charismatic inmate. The disastrous consequences call into question not only the nature of punishment and retribution, but the very limits of our humanity.

The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd

2026

No artwork available
NR

A teacher in an abusive marriage takes a job at a maximum security prison, where she falls for a charismatic inmate. The disastrous consequences call into question not only the nature of punishment and retribution, but the very limits of our humanity.

The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd

2026

Asleep in My Palm poster
5.0

It tells the story of a man and the daughter he's raising off the grid on the outskirts of an elite liberal arts college in northeastern Ohio.

Asleep in My Palm

2024

No artwork available
NR

A murdered politician is given a second chance at life after he's reincarnated in a lower form.

Haskett's Chance

2006

No artwork available
NR

It centers on a man who has to hunt down clones of himself who have gone AWOL from a war they were made to fight in and instead have set their sights on the corporate state that created them.

Michael Zero