Acting
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).
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009 · TV
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015 · TV
The Daily Show
1996 · TV
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962 · TV
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014 · TV
The Simpsons
1989 · TV
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014 · TV
Dexter
2006 · TV
The Kelly Clarkson Show
2019 · TV
Conan
2010 · TV
The Late Late Show with James Corden
2015 · TV
Saturday Night Live
1975 · TV
Interstellar
2014 · Movie
The Colbert Report
2005 · TV
Frasier
1993 · TV
The Graham Norton Show
2007 · TV
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003 · TV
The View
1997 · TV
How I Met Your Mother
2005 · TV
Great Performances
1971 · TV
NOVA
1974 · TV
Tony Awards
1956 · TV
The One Show
2006 · TV
Golden Globe Awards
1944 · TV
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1993 · TV
The Crown
2016 · TV
Sherri
2022 · TV
Today
1952 · TV
30 Rock
2006 · TV
3rd Rock from the Sun
1996 · TV
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014 · TV
Tales from the Crypt
1989 · TV
Shrek
2001 · Movie
Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
2018 · TV
The Oscars
1953 · TV
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015 · TV
Amazing Stories
1985 · TV
Finding Your Roots
2012 · TV
Dexter: Resurrection
2025 · TV
Faerie Tale Theatre
1982 · TV
Perry Mason
2020 · TV
The Old Man
2022 · TV
Dexter: New Blood
2021 · TV
Live from E!
2002 · TV
Stars in the House
2020 · TV
Killers of the Flower Moon
2023 · Movie
Conclave
2024 · Movie
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2011 · Movie
The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer
2018 · TV
Cosby
1996 · TV
The Accountant
2016 · Movie
This Is 40
2012 · Movie
Harry Potter
2026 · TV
Trial & Error
2017 · TV
The Early Show
1999 · TV
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
1996 · TV
Cliffhanger
1993 · Movie
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night
2025 · TV
Confessions of a Shopaholic
2009 · Movie
Pet Sematary
2019 · Movie
Daddy's Home 2
2017 · Movie
Spellbound
2024 · Movie
2010
1984 · Movie
Leap Year
2010 · Movie
Pitch Perfect 3
2017 · Movie
The Pelican Brief
1993 · Movie
James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction
2018 · TV
Bombshell
2019 · Movie
Footloose
1984 · Movie
American Cinema
1994 · TV
Twilight Zone: The Movie
1983 · Movie
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
2013 · TV
Dreamgirls
2006 · Movie
Harry and the Hendersons
1987 · Movie
Blow Out
1981 · Movie
Prohibition
2011 · TV
New Year's Eve
2011 · Movie
Terms of Endearment
1983 · Movie
Miss Sloane
2016 · Movie
Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic
2026 · Movie
Twenty Good Years
2006 · TV
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
1984 · Movie
All That Jazz
1979 · Movie
The Campaign
2012 · Movie
Sharper
2023 · Movie
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951 · TV
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
2014 · TV
DreamWorks 6 Spooky Stories Collection
2003 · TV
Ricochet
1991 · Movie
Orange County
2002 · Movie
Shrek 3-D
2004 · Movie
The Rule of Jenny Pen
2025 · Movie
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
2000 · Movie
Late Night
2019 · Movie
The West
1996 · TV
Obsession
1976 · Movie
The Bubble
2022 · Movie
The Day After
1983 · Movie
The World According to Garp
1982 · Movie
A Civil Action
1998 · Movie
The Homesman
2014 · Movie
Kinsey
2004 · Movie
Jimpa
2026 · Movie
Finding Harry: The Craft Behind The Magic
2026 · TV
Raising Cain
1992 · Movie
The Tuskegee Airmen
1995 · Movie
Memphis Belle
1990 · Movie
Cabrini
2024 · Movie
Distant Thunder
1988 · Movie
Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Travelled
2023 · TV
Santa Claus: The Movie
1985 · Movie
Inside 'Interstellar'
2015 · Movie
Beatriz at Dinner
2017 · Movie
The Manhattan Project
1986 · Movie
Love, Cheat & Steal
1993 · Movie
World War II: When Lions Roared
1994 · TV
Night of 100 Stars III
1990 · Movie
Princess Caraboo
1994 · Movie
Resting Place
1986 · Movie
Show of Titles
2021 · Movie
Homegrown
1998 · Movie
Shrek: Once Upon a Time
2011 · Movie
Einstein's Big Idea
2005 · Movie
Buckaroo Banzai Declassified
2002 · Movie
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
2004 · Movie
Love Is Strange
2014 · Movie
Tales from the Crypt: The Robert Zemeckis Collection
1999 · Movie
Broadway: The Next Generation
· Movie
Redwood Curtain
1995 · Movie
9 Kisses
2014 · Movie
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
2023 · Movie
The Glitter Dome
1984 · Movie
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
1982 · Movie
The Tomorrow Man
2019 · Movie
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
1991 · Movie
Emily @ the Edge of Chaos
2021 · Movie
On Broadway
2019 · Movie
2010 : The Odyssey Continues
1984 · Movie
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
2016 · Movie
Best of Enemies
2015 · Movie
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes
2021 · Movie
Casting By
2012 · Movie
Silent Fall
1994 · Movie
Amazing Stories: The Movie II
1990 · Movie
Out Cold
1989 · Movie
ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway
2007 · Movie
The Big Fix
1978 · Movie
A Good Man in Africa
1994 · Movie
Johnny Skidmarks
1998 · Movie
Hollow Point
1996 · Movie
Chez Bob
2022 · Movie
The Oldest Living Graduate
1980 · Movie
Rich Kids
1979 · Movie
Giant
2026 · Movie
Shrek Stories
2013 · Movie
Mister Rogers: It's You I Like
2018 · Movie
Don Quixote
2000 · Movie
The Wrong Man
1993 · Movie
Happy Birthday, Bugs! 50 Looney Years
1990 · Movie
Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
1972 · Movie
Mesmerized
1985 · Movie
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2006 · Movie
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party
2001 · Movie
Traveling Man
1989 · Movie
The Amazing Bone
1987 · Movie
Special Effects: Anything Can Happen
1996 · Movie
Stallone on the Edge: The Making of Cliffhanger
1993 · Movie
The Jungle Bunch 2: The Great Treasure Quest
2014 · Movie
Big Blonde
1980 · Movie
Officer Buckle and Gloria
1997 · Movie
The Boys
1991 · Movie
Mom, the Wolfman and Me
1980 · Movie
Myths and Hymns
2021 · Movie
Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love
2013 · Movie
Give My Regards to Broadway
2020 · Movie
Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects
1994 · Movie
The Country Girl
1974 · Movie
The Pulitzer At 100
2017 · Movie
Secret Service
1977 · Movie
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
1984 · Movie
Hickory Dickory Doc
2017 · Movie
95 Worlds and Counting
2000 · Movie
Timms Valley
2013 · Movie
Pet Sematary: The Tale of Timmy Baterman
2018 · Movie
The Macabre World of Lavender Williams
2009 · Movie
Bark, George
2003 · Movie
Santa Claus: The Making of the Movie
1985 · Movie
The Great Robot Race: The DARPA Grand Challenge
2006 · Movie
Car of the Future
2008 · Movie
Footloose: A Modern Musical
2004 · Movie
The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts
2019 · Movie
Ivory Hunters
1990 · Movie
National Theatre Live: The Magistrate
2013 · Movie
Miracle in a Box: A Piano Reborn
2009 · Movie
Art Happens Here with John Lithgow
2024 · Movie
The Country Mouse & the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale
1993 · Movie
John Lithgow's Kid-Sized Concert
1990 · Movie
Projections of America
2015 · Movie
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
1993 · Movie
They All Saw a Cat
2017 · Movie
