
John Lithgow
Known for Acting · 210 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

How I Met Your Mother
2005
as Jerry Whittaker

Conan
2010
as Self

Frasier
1993
as Madman Martinez (voice)

The Colbert Report
2005

NOVA
1974
as Narrator

The Late Late Show with James Corden
2015
as Self - Guest

Golden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Nominee / Self - Presenter / Self - Winner

The Crown
2016
as Winston Churchill

The View
1997
as Self / Self - Guest

30 Rock
2006
as John Lithgow

Jimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
as Self - Guest

The One Show
2006
as Self

Great Performances
1971
as Capt. Thorne

Sherri
2022
as Self - Guest

Variety Studio: Actors on Actors
2014
as Self

3rd Rock from the Sun
1996
as Dick Solomon

Late Night with Conan O'Brien
1993
as Self - Guest

Tony Awards
1956
as Self - Winner / Self - Nominee / Self - Presenter / Self - Nominee / Performer

Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015
as Self

Tales from the Crypt
1989
as Dr. Oscar Charles

Stars in the House
2020
as Self - Special Guest

Amazing Stories
1985
as John Walters

Finding Your Roots
2012
as Self

The Oscars
1953
as Self - Presenter
The Tony Danza Show
2004
as Self

Dexter: New Blood
2021
as Arthur Mitchell

Perry Mason
2020
as Elias Birchard 'E.B.' Jonathan

Faerie Tale Theatre
1982
as Goldilocks' Father

The Old Man
2022
as Harold Harper

Dexter: Resurrection
2025
as Arthur Mitchell

Firing Line with Margaret Hoover
2018

Cosby
1996
as John Lithgow

Today
1952
as Self

Live from E!
2002
as Self

The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer
2018
as Self - Guest

SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night
2025
as Self

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland
2013
as The White Rabbit (voice)

Trial & Error
2017
as Larry Henderson

Harry Potter
2026
as Albus Dumbledore

James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction
2018
as Self

The Rosie O'Donnell Show
1996
as Self - Guest

The West
1996
as Self / Self / Uriah Oblinger (voice)

Prohibition
2011
as Reader / H.L. Mencken (voice)

Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951
as Paul Unger / Major Kendall Laird / Laird Riordan

Twenty Good Years
2006
as John Mason
VH1 Goes Inside
2003

The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
2014
as James Roosevelt (voice)

The Early Show
1999
as Self

American Cinema
1994
as Self - Host
Movies (145)

Interstellar
2014
as Donald

Shrek
2001
as Lord Farquaad (voice)

Killers of the Flower Moon
2023
as Prosecutor Peter Leaward

The Accountant
2016
as Lamar Blackburn

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2011
as Charles Rodman

Conclave
2024
as Tremblay

Cliffhanger
1993
as Qualen

Spellbound
2024
as Bolinar (voice)

Pitch Perfect 3
2017
as Fergus

Confessions of a Shopaholic
2009
as Edgar West

Leap Year
2010
as Jack Brady

Daddy's Home 2
2017
as Don

Pet Sematary
2019
as Jud Crandall

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

The Pelican Brief
1993
as Smith Keen

The Campaign
2012
as Glen Motch

Bombshell
2019
as Roger Ailes

Obsession
1976
as Robert Lasalle

The Rule of Jenny Pen
2025
as Dave Crealy

Blow Out
1981
as Burke

Miss Sloane
2016
as Senator Ronald Sperling

Sharper
2023
as Richard Hobbes

Dreamgirls
2006
as Jerry Harris

This Is 40
2012
as Oliver

Footloose
1984
as Rev. Shaw Moore

2010
1984
as Dr. Walter Curnow

Twilight Zone: The Movie
1983
as Valentine

Harry and the Hendersons
1987
as George Henderson

The Bubble
2022
as Tom the Studio Chairman

New Year's Eve
2011
as Jonathan Cox (uncredited)

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

All That Jazz
1979
as Lucas Sergeant

Ricochet
1991
as Earl Talbott Blake

Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic
2026
as Self

The Homesman
2014
as Reverend Alfred Dowd

The Day After
1983
as Joe Huxley

Terms of Endearment
1983
as Sam Burns

Jimpa
2026
as Jimpa

Shrek 3-D
2004
as Ghost of Farquaad (voice)

Orange County
2002
as Bud Brumder

Cabrini
2024
as Mayor Gould

Memphis Belle
1990
as Bruce Derringer

Kinsey
2004
as Alfred Seguine Kinsey

A Civil Action
1998
as Judge Walter J. Skinner

The Manhattan Project
1986
as John Mathewson

Late Night
2019
as Walter Lovell

The World According to Garp
1982
as Roberta Muldoon

Silent Fall
1994
as Dr. Rene Harlinger

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

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 Tuskegee Airmen
1995
as Senator Conyers

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
2004
as Blake Edwards

Night of 100 Stars III
1990
as Self

Hollow Point
1996
as Thomas Livingston

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

Broadway: The Next Generation
as Self

Love Is Strange
2014
as Ben

ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway
2007
as Self

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

At Play in the Fields of the Lord
1991
as Leslie Huben

Inside 'Interstellar'
2015
as Self

Out Cold
1989
as Dave

Homegrown
1998
as Malcolm / Robert Stockman

Beatriz at Dinner
2017
as Doug Strutt

On Broadway
2019
as Self

Giant
2026
as Roald Dahl

Casting By
2012
as Self

Resting Place
1986
as Maj. Kendall Laird

Masters of Illusion: The Wizards of Special Effects
1994
as Self

Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
2023
as Self

Rich Kids
1979
as Paul Philips

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

Johnny Skidmarks
1998
as Sergeant Larry Skovik

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

Best of Enemies
2015
as Voice of Gore Vidal

The Big Fix
1978
as Sam Sebastian

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

Love, Cheat & Steal
1993
as Paul Harrington

I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
1982
as Mr. Brunner
My Brother's Keeper
1995
as Tom Bradley / Bob Bradley

Mesmerized
1985
as Oliver Thompson

Princess Caraboo
1994
as Professor Wilkinson

2010 : The Odyssey Continues
1984
as Himself

Secret Service
1977
as Capt. Thorne

Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
2016
as Self - Performer

Don Quixote
2000
as Don Quixote de La Mancha / Alonso Quixano

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

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

The Oldest Living Graduate
1980
as Clarence

Buckaroo Banzai Declassified
2002
as Self

Distant Thunder
1988
as Mark Lambert

Traveling Man
1989
as Ben Cluett

The Tomorrow Man
2019
as Ed Hemsler

The Boys
1991
as Artie Margulies

Shrek Stories
2013
as Lord Farquaad (voice)

Goldilocks and the Three Bears
1984
as Goldilocks' Father

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

The Glitter Dome
1984
as Sgt. Marty Wellborn
Not in Front of the Children
1982
as Richard Carruthers

Timms Valley
2013
as Ol' Gregory Timms

The Wrong Man
1993
as Phillip Mills

9 Kisses
2014
as Man in Club

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

Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love
2013
as Self

Santa Claus: The Making of the Movie
1985
as Self

Shrek: Once Upon a Time
2011
as Self

Pet Sematary: The Tale of Timmy Baterman
2018
as Jud Crandall

The Pulitzer At 100
2017
as Self

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

Mister Rogers: It's You I Like
2018
as Self

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

Mom, the Wolfman and Me
1980
as Wally

Myths and Hymns
2021

Ivory Hunters
1990
as Robert Carter
Baby Girl Scott
1987
as Neil Scott
GIANT - The Play
2026
as Roald Dahl

Redwood Curtain
1995
as Laird Riordan
Ode to Joy: Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
2016
as Narrator

The Country Girl
1974
as Paul Unger
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 210 credits spanning from 1944 to 2026, John Lithgow has appeared in 145 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 CineFlixo, free and in HD, with no subscription required.
Most Popular John Lithgow Movies
- Interstellar (2014) — as Donald
- Shrek (2001) — as Lord Farquaad (voice)
- Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) — as Prosecutor Peter Leaward
- The Accountant (2016) — as Lamar Blackburn
- Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) — as Charles Rodman
Where to Watch John Lithgow Films
Most John Lithgow movies and series are available to stream on CineFlixo 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.