

John Lithgow
Actor · Producer · CrewJohn 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).
More details at TMDB
KNOWN FOR
FILMOGRAPHY
ACTOR145

Jimpa
2026
Jimpa

Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic
2026
Self

Giant
2026
Roald Dahl

The Rule of Jenny Pen
2025
Dave Crealy

Cabrini
2024
Mayor Gould

Spellbound
2024
Bolinar (voice)

Art Happens Here with John Lithgow
2024
Self

Conclave
2024
Tremblay

Sharper
2023
Richard Hobbes

Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
2023
Self

Killers of the Flower Moon
2023
Prosecutor Peter Leaward

Chez Bob
2022

The Bubble
2022
Tom the Studio Chairman

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes
2021
Philip Drummond

Myths and Hymns
2021

Emily @ the Edge of Chaos
2021
Sir Isaac Newton (voice)

Show of Titles
2021
"There's No Business Like Show Business" Performer

Give My Regards to Broadway
2020
Self

Late Night
2019
Walter Lovell

Pet Sematary
2019
Jud Crandall

Bombshell
2019
Roger Ailes

The Tomorrow Man
2019
Ed Hemsler

The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts
2019
President Donald J. Trump

On Broadway
2019
Self

Mister Rogers: It's You I Like
2018
Self

Pet Sematary: The Tale of Timmy Baterman
2018
Jud Crandall

They All Saw a Cat
2017

Beatriz at Dinner
2017
Doug Strutt

Daddy's Home 2
2017
Don

The Pulitzer At 100
2017
Self

Pitch Perfect 3
2017
Fergus

Hickory Dickory Doc
2017
Himself

The Accountant
2016
Lamar Blackburn
- Ode to Joy: Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
Ode to Joy: Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
2016
Narrator

Miss Sloane
2016
Senator Ronald Sperling

Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
2016
Self - Performer

Inside 'Interstellar'
2015
Self

Projections of America
2015
Self - Narrator (voice)
- Lord John
Lord John
2015

Best of Enemies
2015
Voice of Gore Vidal

Interstellar
2014
Donald

Love Is Strange
2014
Ben

The Homesman
2014
Reverend Alfred Dowd

The Jungle Bunch 2: The Great Treasure Quest
2014
Maurice (voice)

9 Kisses
2014
Man in Club

Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love
2013
Self

National Theatre Live: The Magistrate
2013
Posket

Shrek Stories
2013
Lord Farquaad (voice)

Timms Valley
2013
Ol' Gregory Timms

Casting By
2012
Self

The Campaign
2012
Glen Motch

This Is 40
2012
Oliver

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2011
Charles Rodman

New Year's Eve
2011
Jonathan Cox (uncredited)

Shrek: Once Upon a Time
2011
Self

Leap Year
2010
Jack Brady

Confessions of a Shopaholic
2009
Edgar West

Miracle in a Box: A Piano Reborn
2009
Narrator

The Macabre World of Lavender Williams
2009
God

Car of the Future
2008
Narrator

ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway
2007
Self
- Sangre
Sangre
2006
Cafe chef and owner

Dreamgirls
2006
Jerry Harris

The Great Robot Race: The DARPA Grand Challenge
2006
Narrator

The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2006
René Gallimard (segment "M. Butterfly")

Einstein's Big Idea
2005
Narrator (voice) U.S. edition

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
2004
Blake Edwards

Kinsey
2004
Alfred Seguine Kinsey

Shrek 3-D
2004
Ghost of Farquaad (voice)
- Dogs and More Dogs
Dogs and More Dogs
2004
Narrator

Footloose: A Modern Musical
2004
Self

Bark, George
2003

Orange County
2002
Bud Brumder

Buckaroo Banzai Declassified
2002
Self

Shrek
2001
Lord Farquaad (voice)

Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party
2001
Lord Farquaad (singing voice)

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
2000
Jean-Claude (voice)

95 Worlds and Counting
2000
Narrator

Don Quixote
2000
Don Quixote de La Mancha / Alonso Quixano

Tales from the Crypt: The Robert Zemeckis Collection
1999
Dr. Oscar Charles

A Civil Action
1998
Judge Walter J. Skinner

Homegrown
1998
Malcolm / Robert Stockman

Johnny Skidmarks
1998
Sergeant Larry Skovik

Officer Buckle and Gloria
1997
Narrator (voice)

Hollow Point
1996
Thomas Livingston

Special Effects: Anything Can Happen
1996
Narrator

The Tuskegee Airmen
1995
Senator Conyers

Redwood Curtain
1995
Laird Riordan
- My Brother's Keeper
My Brother's Keeper
1995
Tom Bradley / Bob Bradley

A Good Man in Africa
1994
Arthur Fanshawe, British High Commissioner

Princess Caraboo
1994
Professor Wilkinson

Silent Fall
1994
Dr. Rene Harlinger

Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects
1994
Self

The Pelican Brief
1993
Smith Keen

Cliffhanger
1993
Qualen

The Wrong Man
1993
Phillip Mills

Love, Cheat & Steal
1993
Paul Harrington

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
1993
Narrator

The Country Mouse & the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale
1993
Alexander (voice)

Raising Cain
1992
Carter Nix / Cain / Dr. Nix / Josh / Margo

Ricochet
1991
Earl Talbott Blake

At Play in the Fields of the Lord
1991
Leslie Huben

The Boys
1991
Artie Margulies

Memphis Belle
1990
Bruce Derringer

Ivory Hunters
1990
Robert Carter

Night of 100 Stars III
1990
Self

Amazing Stories: The Movie II
1990
John Walters (archive footage)

John Lithgow's Kid-Sized Concert
1990

Happy Birthday, Bugs! 50 Looney Years
1990
Self

Out Cold
1989
Dave

Traveling Man
1989
Ben Cluett

Distant Thunder
1988
Mark Lambert

Harry and the Hendersons
1987
George Henderson
- Baby Girl Scott
Baby Girl Scott
1987
Neil Scott

The Amazing Bone
1987
Narrator

The Manhattan Project
1986
John Mathewson

Resting Place
1986
Maj. Kendall Laird

Santa Claus: The Movie
1985
B.Z.

Mesmerized
1985
Oliver Thompson

Santa Claus: The Making of the Movie
1985
Self

Footloose
1984
Rev. Shaw Moore

2010
1984
Dr. Walter Curnow

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
1984
Lord John Whorfin

The Glitter Dome
1984
Sgt. Marty Wellborn

Goldilocks and the Three Bears
1984
Goldilocks' Father

2010 : The Odyssey Continues
1984
Himself

Terms of Endearment
1983
Sam Burns

The Day After
1983
Joe Huxley

Twilight Zone: The Movie
1983
Valentine

The World According to Garp
1982
Roberta Muldoon

I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
1982
Mr. Brunner
- Not in Front of the Children
Not in Front of the Children
1982
Richard Carruthers

Blow Out
1981
Burke

The Oldest Living Graduate
1980
Clarence

Big Blonde
1980
Herbie Morse

Mom, the Wolfman and Me
1980
Wally

All That Jazz
1979
Lucas Sergeant

Rich Kids
1979
Paul Philips

The Big Fix
1978
Sam Sebastian

Secret Service
1977
Capt. Thorne

Obsession
1976
Robert Lasalle

The Country Girl
1974
Paul Unger

Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
1972
John

Broadway: The Next Generation
Self

Stallone on the Edge: The Making of Cliffhanger
Self





