John Lithgow profile
Actor profile

John Lithgow

19th October 1945 Rochester, New York, USA 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).

143 Movies 64 TV Shows 2 In Production 209 Credits
Filmography

Movies & TV Shows

Jimpa poster
Jimpa 6th February 2026 as Jimpa
Sharper poster
Sharper 10th February 2023 as Richard Hobbes
The Bubble poster
The Bubble 25th March 2022 as Tom the Studio Chairman
Show of Titles poster
Show of Titles 13th June 2021 as "There's No Business Like Show Business" Performer
Sangre poster
Sangre 1st January 2006 as Cafe chef and owner
Kinsey poster
Kinsey 4th September 2004 as Alfred Seguine Kinsey
Shrek 3-D poster
Shrek 3-D 3rd April 2004 as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)
Shrek poster
Shrek 18th May 2001 as Lord Farquaad (voice)
Don Quixote poster
Don Quixote 9th April 2000 as Don Quixote de La Mancha / Alonso Quixano
Homegrown poster
Homegrown 17th April 1998 as Malcolm / Robert Stockman
Raising Cain poster
Raising Cain 7th August 1992 as Carter Nix / Cain / Dr. Nix / Josh / Margo
Ricochet poster
Ricochet 4th October 1991 as Earl Talbott Blake
The Boys poster
The Boys 15th April 1991 as Artie Margulies
2010 poster
2010 6th December 1984 as Dr. Walter Curnow
Sherri poster
Sherri 12th September 2022 as Self - Guest
Perry Mason poster
Perry Mason 21st June 2020 as Elias Birchard 'E.B.' Jonathan
The Crown poster
The Crown 4th November 2016 as Winston Churchill
Prohibition poster
Prohibition 2nd October 2011 as Reader / H.L. Mencken (voice)
Conan poster
Conan 8th November 2010 as Self
30 Rock poster
30 Rock 11th October 2006 as John Lithgow
Dexter poster
Dexter 1st October 2006 as Arthur Mitchell
Cosby poster
Cosby 16th September 1996 as John Lithgow
The West poster
The West 15th September 1996 as Self / Uriah Oblinger (voice)
Frasier poster
Frasier 16th September 1993 as Madman Martinez (voice)
NOVA poster
NOVA 3rd March 1974 as Narrator
Today poster
Today 14th January 1952 as Self
Harry Potter poster Coming soon
Harry Potter 25th December 2026 as Albus Dumbledore
GIANT - The Play poster Coming soon
GIANT - The Play 19th November 2026 as Roald Dahl