John Lithgow
Known for Acting · 211 credits
- Born
- 1945-10-19 (age 80)
- Place of birth
- Rochester, New York, USA
- Also known as
- 莊李富高 · John Arthur Lithgow · 約翰.李斯高 · جان لیتگو
Biography
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).
Known For
The Simpsons
1989
as Gus (voice) / John Lithgow (voice)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
as Self
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009
as Self - Guest
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
as Self / Self - Guest
The Daily Show
1996
as Self
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self - Guest
TV Shows (65)
The Simpsons
1989
as Gus (voice) / John Lithgow (voice)
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
as Self
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
2009
as Self - Guest
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
as Self / Self - Guest
The Daily Show
1996
as Self
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self - Guest
Late Night with Seth Meyers
2014
as Self
Dexter
2006
as Arthur Mitchell
The Kelly Clarkson Show
2019
as Self
The Graham Norton Show
2007
as Self
Saturday Night Live
1975
as Self - Host
Conan
2010
as Self
How I Met Your Mother
2005
as Jerry Whittaker
Frasier
1993
as Madman Martinez (voice)
The Colbert Report
2005
Sherri
2022
as Self - Guest
The Crown
2016
as Winston Churchill
NOVA
1974
as Narrator
The Late Late Show with James Corden
2015
as Self - Guest
The View
1997
as Self / Self - Guest
Golden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Nominee / Self - Presenter / Self - Winner
30 Rock
2006
as John Lithgow
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
as Self - Guest
Great Performances
1971
as Capt. Thorne
Tony Awards
1956
as Self - Winner / Self - Nominee / Self - Presenter / Self - Nominee / Performer
The One Show
2006
as Self
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1993
as Self - Guest
3rd Rock from the Sun
1996
as Dick Solomon
Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014
as Self
Tales from the Crypt
1989
as Dr. Oscar Charles
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015
as Self
The Tony Danza Show
2004
as Self
Amazing Stories
1985
as John Walters
Stars in the House
2020
as Self - Special Guest
Finding Your Roots
2012
as Self
The Oscars
1953
as Self - Presenter
Dexter: New Blood
2021
as Arthur Mitchell
Perry Mason
2020
as Elias Birchard 'E.B.' Jonathan
Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
2018
Faerie Tale Theatre
1982
as Goldilocks' Father
Dexter: Resurrection
2025
as Arthur Mitchell
The Old Man
2022
as Harold Harper
Today
1952
as Self
Cosby
1996
as John Lithgow
Live from E!
2002
as Self
The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer
2018
as Self - Guest
Trial & Error
2017
as Larry Henderson
SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night
2025
as Self
Harry Potter
2026
as Albus Dumbledore
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
2013
as The White Rabbit (voice)
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
1996
as Self - Guest
James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction
2018
as Self
Prohibition
2011
as Reader / H.L. Mencken (voice)
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Paul Unger / Major Kendall Laird / Laird Riordan
The West
1996
as Self / Self / Uriah Oblinger (voice)
The Early Show
1999
as Self
Twenty Good Years
2006
as John Mason
VH1 Goes Inside
2003
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
2014
as James Roosevelt (voice)
American Cinema
1994
as Self - Host
Movies (146)
Interstellar
2014
as Donald
Shrek
2001
as Lord Farquaad (voice)
Conclave
2024
as Tremblay
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2011
as Charles Rodman
Killers of the Flower Moon
2023
as Prosecutor Peter Leaward
The Accountant
2016
as Lamar Blackburn
Cliffhanger
1993
as Qualen
Footloose
1984
as Rev. Shaw Moore
Spellbound
2024
as Bolinar (voice)
Leap Year
2010
as Jack Brady
Blow Out
1981
as Burke
Pitch Perfect 3
2017
as Fergus
2010
1984
as Dr. Walter Curnow
Daddy's Home 2
2017
as Don
Miss Sloane
2016
as Senator Ronald Sperling
Pet Sematary
2019
as Jud Crandall
The Pelican Brief
1993
as Smith Keen
The Campaign
2012
as Glen Motch
Confessions of a Shopaholic
2009
as Edgar West
The Rule of Jenny Pen
2025
as Dave Crealy
Bombshell
2019
as Roger Ailes
The Homesman
2014
as Reverend Alfred Dowd
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
1984
as Lord John Whorfin
New Year's Eve
2011
as Jonathan Cox (uncredited)
Obsession
1976
as Robert Lasalle
This Is 40
2012
as Oliver
Twilight Zone: The Movie
1983
as Valentine
Dreamgirls
2006
as Jerry Harris
Cabrini
2024
as Mayor Gould
Beatriz at Dinner
2017
as Doug Strutt
The Bubble
2022
as Tom the Studio Chairman
All That Jazz
1979
as Lucas Sergeant
Late Night
2019
as Walter Lovell
Memphis Belle
1990
as Bruce Derringer
Terms of Endearment
1983
as Sam Burns
Ricochet
1991
as Earl Talbott Blake
Sharper
2023
as Richard Hobbes
Shrek 3-D
2004
as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)
Orange County
2002
as Bud Brumder
Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic
2026
as Self
Silent Fall
1994
as Dr. Rene Harlinger
Harry and the Hendersons
1987
as George Henderson
The Day After
1983
as Joe Huxley
Hollow Point
1996
as Thomas Livingston
Kinsey
2004
as Alfred Seguine Kinsey
Jimpa
2026
as Jimpa
Resting Place
1986
as Maj. Kendall Laird
The World According to Garp
1982
as Roberta Muldoon
Raising Cain
1992
as Carter Nix / Cain / Dr. Nix / Josh / Margo
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
2000
as Jean-Claude (voice)
A Civil Action
1998
as Judge Walter J. Skinner
The Manhattan Project
1986
as John Mathewson
Homegrown
1998
as Malcolm / Robert Stockman
Secret Service
1977
as Capt. Thorne
The Tuskegee Airmen
1995
as Senator Conyers
Santa Claus: The Movie
1985
as B.Z.
Live in Front of a Studio Audience: The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes
2021
as Philip Drummond
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
2004
as Blake Edwards
Princess Caraboo
1994
as Professor Wilkinson
Traveling Man
1989
as Ben Cluett
Casting By
2012
as Self
Night of 100 Stars III
1990
as Self
Show of Titles
2021
as "There's No Business Like Show Business" Performer
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party
2001
as Lord Farquaad (singing voice)
The Boys
1991
as Artie Margulies
Inside 'Interstellar'
2015
as Self
Tales from the Crypt: The Robert Zemeckis Collection
1999
as Dr. Oscar Charles
Love, Cheat & Steal
1993
as Paul Harrington
Rich Kids
1979
as Paul Philips
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
1982
as Mr. Brunner
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
2006
as René Gallimard (segment "M. Butterfly")
ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway
2007
as Self
Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
1972
as John
Distant Thunder
1988
as Mark Lambert
The Big Fix
1978
as Sam Sebastian
Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects
1994
as Self
Love Is Strange
2014
as Ben
Einstein's Big Idea
2005
as Narrator (voice) U.S. edition
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
2016
as Self - Performer
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
1991
as Leslie Huben
Out Cold
1989
as Dave
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
2023
as Self
On Broadway
2019
as Self
Don Quixote
2000
as Don Quixote de La Mancha / Alonso Quixano
Mesmerized
1985
as Oliver Thompson
Giant
2026
as Roald Dahl
Best of Enemies
2015
as Voice of Gore Vidal
Broadway: The Next Generation
as Self
Shrek: Once Upon a Time
2011
as Self
Shrek Stories
2013
as Lord Farquaad (voice)
The Oldest Living Graduate
1980
as Clarence
Timms Valley
2013
as Ol' Gregory Timms
Johnny Skidmarks
1998
as Sergeant Larry Skovik
9 Kisses
2014
as Man in Club
The Tomorrow Man
2019
as Ed Hemsler
Emily @ the Edge of Chaos
2021
as Sir Isaac Newton (voice)
A Good Man in Africa
1994
as Arthur Fanshawe, British High Commissioner
The Glitter Dome
1984
as Sgt. Marty Wellborn
My Brother's Keeper
1995
as Tom Bradley / Bob Bradley
The Pulitzer At 100
2017
as Self
Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love
2013
as Self
Big Blonde
1980
as Herbie Morse
2010 : The Odyssey Continues
1984
as Himself
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
1984
as Goldilocks' Father
Not in Front of the Children
1982
as Richard Carruthers
The Jungle Bunch 2: The Great Treasure Quest
2014
as Maurice (voice)
Redwood Curtain
1995
as Laird Riordan
Amazing Stories: The Movie II
1990
as John Walters (archive footage)
Buckaroo Banzai Declassified
2002
as Self
GIANT - The Play
2026
as Roald Dahl
Ivory Hunters
1990
as Robert Carter
The Wrong Man
1993
as Phillip Mills
Dogs and More Dogs
2004
as Narrator
The Macabre World of Lavender Williams
2009
as God
Hickory Dickory Doc
2017
as Himself
Santa Claus: The Making of the Movie
1985
as Self
Give My Regards to Broadway
2020
as Self
95 Worlds and Counting
2000
as Narrator
Mom, the Wolfman and Me
1980
as Wally
Myths and Hymns
2021
About John Lithgow
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 A… With 211 credits spanning from 1944 to 2026, John Lithgow has appeared in 146 films and 65 TV shows.
Fans searching for John Lithgow movies, John Lithgow filmography, or the latest projects starring John Lithgow can stream many of these titles on Bowood.TV, free and in HD, with no subscription required.
Most Popular John Lithgow Movies
- Interstellar (2014) — as Donald
- Shrek (2001) — as Lord Farquaad (voice)
- Conclave (2024) — as Tremblay
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) — as Charles Rodman
- Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) — as Prosecutor Peter Leaward
Where to Watch John Lithgow Films
Most John Lithgow movies and series are available to stream on Bowood.TV in full HD, completely free and without signup. Browse the complete filmography above to jump directly to any title. For more films and the latest web series featuring John Lithgow, check our movies catalogue and browse page.