Highest rated as cast or director
Shrek
2001
Conclave
2024
Blow Out
1981
Best of Enemies
2015
3rd Rock from the Sun
1996 · 6 Seasons
John Lithgow's 6 titles from the 2020s have a median Balasaur Score of 74, led by Killers of the Flower Moon (82) and Conclave (79), against 66 for those from the 2000s.
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). Description above from the Wikipedia article John Lithgow, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acted in 134
2020s
- 2026
- 2025
- 2024
- 2023
- 2022
Chez Bob
Movie
- 2021
Show of Titles
"There's No Business Like Show Business" Performer
Emily @ the Edge of Chaos
Sir Isaac Newton (voice)
Myths and Hymns
Movie
- 2020
2010s
- 2019
The Investigation: A Search for the Truth in Ten Acts
President Donald J. Trump
- 2018
Pet Sematary: The Tale of Timmy Baterman
Jud Crandall
- 2017
They All Saw a Cat
Movie
- 2016
- 2015
- 2014
The Roosevelts: An Intimate History
James Roosevelt (voice) · 7 episodes
The Jungle Bunch 2: The Great Treasure Quest
Maurice (voice)
- 2013
Timms Valley
Ol' Gregory Timms
Shrek Stories
Lord Farquaad (voice)
National Theatre Live: The Magistrate
Posket
- 2012
- 2011
Prohibition
Reader / H.L. Mencken (voice) · 3 episodes
- 2010
2000s
- 2009
The Macabre World of Lavender Williams
God
- 2006
Twenty Good Years
John Mason · 13 episodes
The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays
René Gallimard (segment "M. Butterfly")
- 2005
- 2004
The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Blake Edwards
- 2003
VH1 Goes Inside
TV
DreamWorks 6 Spooky Stories Collection
Ghost of Farquaad (voice) · 1 episode
Bark, George
Movie
- 2002
- 2001
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party
Lord Farquaad (singing voice)
- 2000
Don Quixote
Don Quixote de La Mancha / Alonso Quixano
1990s
- 1999
Saturday Night Live: 25th Anniversary Special
(archive footage)
Tales from the Crypt: The Robert Zemeckis Collection
Dr. Oscar Charles
- 1998
Johnny Skidmarks
Sergeant Larry Skovik
- 1996
Hollow Point
Thomas Livingston
- 1995
Redwood Curtain
Laird Riordan
- 1994
A Good Man in Africa
Arthur Fanshawe, British High Commissioner
World War II: When Lions Roared
Franklin Delano Roosevelt · 2 episodes
- 1993
The Country Mouse & the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale
Alexander (voice)
The Wrong Man
Phillip Mills
- 1992
- 1991
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
Leslie Huben
The Boys
Artie Margulies
- 1990
Amazing Stories: The Movie II
John Walters
Ivory Hunters
Robert Carter
John Lithgow's Kid-Sized Concert
Movie
1980s
- 1989
Traveling Man
Ben Cluett
- 1988
Distant Thunder
Mark Lambert
- 1987
- 1986
- 1985
- 1984
The Glitter Dome
Sgt. Marty Wellborn
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Goldilocks' Father
- 1983
- 1982
I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can
Mr. Brunner
- 1981
- 1980
Big Blonde
Herbie Morse
Mom, the Wolfman and Me
Wally
1970s
- 1979
Rich Kids
Paul Philips
- 1978
The Big Fix
Sam Sebastian
- 1977
Secret Service
Capt. Thorne
- 1976
- 1974
The Country Girl
Paul Unger
- 1972
Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues
John
- 1971
1950s
- 1951
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Paul Unger, Major Kendall Laird, Laird Riordan · 1 episode
Produced 3
2020s
- 2025
- 2024
Art Happens Here with John Lithgow
Executive Producer
2000s
- 2000
Don Quixote
Executive Producer
Appearances67
2020s
- 2026
- 2025
- 2024
Art Happens Here with John Lithgow
Self
- 2023
- 2022
- 2020
Give My Regards to Broadway
Self
2010s
- 2019
On Broadway
Self
- 2018
Mister Rogers: It's You I Like
Self
- 2017
Hickory Dickory Doc
Himself
- 2016
Shakespeare Live! From the RSC
Self - Performer
- 2015
Inside 'Interstellar'
Self
Projections of America
Self - Narrator (voice)
- 2014
- 2013
Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did For Love
Self
- 2012
Casting By
Self
- 2011
Shrek: Once Upon a Time
Self
- 2010
2000s
- 2009
Miracle in a Box: A Piano Reborn
Narrator
- 2008
Car of the Future
Narrator
- 2007
ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway
Self
- 2006
The Great Robot Race: The DARPA Grand Challenge
Narrator
- 2005
- 2004
Footloose: A Modern Musical
Self
- 2003
- 2002
Buckaroo Banzai Declassified
Self
- 2000
95 Worlds and Counting
Narrator
1990s
- 1999
- 1997
Officer Buckle and Gloria
Narrator (voice)
- 1996
The West
Self, Self / Uriah Oblinger (voice) · 9 episodes
Special Effects: Anything Can Happen
Narrator
- 1994
American Cinema
Self - Host · 13 episodes
- 1993
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble
Narrator
Stallone on the Edge: The Making of Cliffhanger
Self
- 1990
Night of 100 Stars III
Self
Happy Birthday, Bugs! 50 Looney Years
Self
1980s
- 1987
The Amazing Bone
Narrator
- 1985
Santa Claus: The Making of the Movie
Self
- 1984
2010 : The Odyssey Continues
Himself
1970s
- 1975
- 1974
1950s
- 1956
- 1953
- 1952
No release date
Broadway: The Next Generation
Self
Thanked in the credits1
2000s
- 2004
Footloose: A Modern Musical
Thanks