David Strathairn

Actors

David Russell Strathairn (born January 26, 1949) is an American actor. He came to prominence in the 1980s and the 1990s performing in the films of fellow Williams College graduate John Sayles, including Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980), with Maggie Renzi, Adam LeFevre, Gordon Clapp, and Jean Passanante; The Brother from Another Planet (1984), with Joe Morton; Matewan (1987), with with Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, and Will Oldham; Eight Men Out (1988), with John Cusack, John Mahoney, Michael Rooker, Clifton James, Michael Lerner, Christopher Lloyd, Charlie Sheen, and D.B. Sweeney; City of Hope (1991), with Vincent Spano, Angela Bassett, and Lawrence Tierney; Passion Fish (1992), with McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Leo Burmester, and Bassett; and Limbo (1999), with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Vanessa Martinez, and Kris Kristofferson.

Strathairn was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for portraying journalist Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), with Patricia Clarkson, George Clooney (who also directed), Jeff Daniels, Robert Downey Jr., and Frank Langella. He is also recognized for his role as CIA Deputy Director Noah Vosen in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), with Matt Damon, Scott Glenn, Albert Finney, and Joan Allen; a role he reprised in The Bourne Legacy (2012), with Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton.

He played a prominent role as Dr. Lee Rosen on the Syfy series Alphas from 2011 to 2012 and played Secretary of State William H. Seward in Steven Spielberg‘s Lincoln (2012), with Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, and Tommy Lee Jones. He won an Emmy and was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in the TV film Temple Grandin (2010), with Claire Danes, Catherine O’Hara, and Julia Ormond.

Other notable films include Iceman (1984), with John Lone, Timothy Hutton, Lindsay Crouse, and Danny Glover; At Close Range (1986), with Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Mary Stuart Masterson, Chris Penn, Crispin Glover, Kiefer Sutherland, and Eileen Ryan; Dominik and Eugene (1988), with Ray Liotta, Tom Hulce, and Jamie Lee Curtis; A League of Their Own (1992), with Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, and Lori Petty; Bob Roberts (1992), with Tim Robbins (who also directed), Giancarlo Esposito, Ray Wise, Gore Vidal, Cusack, Peter Gallagher, Alan Rickman, Susan Sarandon, James Spader, and Fred Ward; Sneakers (1993), with Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Ben Kingsley, McDonnell, River Phoenix, and Sidney Poitier; Lost in Yonkers (1993), with Irene Worth, Mercedes Ruehl, and Richard Dreyfuss; Sydney Pollack’s The Firm (1993), with Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, and Hal Holbrook; Stephen Gyllenhaal’s A Dangerous Woman (1993), with Debra Winger, Barbara Hershey, and Gabriel Byrne; and The River Wild (1994), with Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, John C. Reilly, Benjamin Bratt, and Joseph Mazzello.

Films in the mid to late 1990s include Losing Isaiah (1995), with Jessica Lange, Halle Berry, and Samuel L. Jackson; Dolores Claiborne (1995), with Kathy Bates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Christopher Plummer; Jodie Foster‘s Home for the Holidays (1995), with Hunter, Downey, Anne Bancroft; Charles Durning, Dylan McDermott, Geraldine Chaplin, Steve Guttenberg, Cynthia Stevenson, Danes, and Austin Pendleton; Mother Night (1996), with Nick Nolte, Sheryl Lee, John Goodman, Kirsten Dunst, Alan Arkin, and Frankie Faison; L.A. Confidential (1997), with Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, and Danny DeVito; The Climb (1998), with John Hurt, Gregory Smith, Marla Sokoloff, and Sarah Buxton; With Friends Like These… (1998), with Robert Costanzo, Jon Tenney, Adam Arkin, ant Bill Murray; Simon Birch (1998), with Ian Michael Smith, Mazzello, Jim Carrey, Ashley Judd, and Oliver Platt; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999), with Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci, Christian Bale, and Sophie Marceau; and A Map of the World (1999), with Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, Chloë Sevigny, Louise Fletcher, and Marc Donato.

Roles in the 2000s include Harrison’s Flowers (2000), with Andie MacDowell, Elias Koteas, Brendan Gleeson, Adrien Brody, Marie Trintignant, and Gerard Butler; The Notorious Betty Page (2006), with Gretchen Mol, Chris Bauer, Lili Taylor, and Jared Harris; We Are Marshall (2006), with Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Ian McShane, Anthony Mackie, and Kate Mara; Fracture (2007), with Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling; Wong Kar-wai‘s My Blueberry Nights (2007), with Norah Jones, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, and Natalie Portman; The Uninvited (2009), with Emily Browning, Elizabeth Banks, and Arielle Kebbel; and Cold Souls (2009), with Paul Giamatti, Dina Korzun, and Emily Watson.

Roles in the 2010s include Howl (2010), with James Franco; Julie Taymor‘s The Tempest (2010), with Helen Mirren, Russell Brand, Reeve Carney, Tom Conti, Cooper, Alan Cumming, Djimon Hounsou, Felicity Jones, Alfred Molina, Ben Whishaw; Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012), with Clive Owen, Nicole Kidman, Parker Posey, Robert Duvall, and Tony Shalhoub; Godzilla (2014), with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, and Bryan Cranston; and the Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015), with Dev Patel, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Tina Desai, Lillete Dubey, Maggie Smith, Celia Imrie, Rajesh Tailang, Ronald Pickup, Tamsin Greig, and Richard Gere.

Roles in the mid to late 2010s include Louder Than Bombs (2015), with Jesse Eisenberg, Byrne, Isabelle Huppert, and Amy Ryan; American Pastoral (2016), with Ewan McGregor (who also directed), Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, Peter Riegert, Rupert Evans, Uzo Aduba, and Molly Parker; November Criminals (2017), with Ansel Elgort, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Catherine Keener; Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), with Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford, Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Watanabe, and Zhang Ziy; and The Devil Has a Name (2019), with Edward James Olmos (who also directed), Kate Bosworth, Pablo Schreiber, Katie Aselton, Haley Joel Osment, Molina, and Martin Sheen.

Roles in the early 2020s include Chloé Zhao‘s Nomadland (2020), with Frances McDormand; and Guillermo del Toro‘s Nightmare Alley (2021), with Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, and Rooney Mara.

Each review will be linked to title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980) – directed by John Sayles
  • Lovesick (1983) – directed by Marshall Brickman
  • Enormous Changes at the Last Minute (1983) – directed by Mirra Bank, Ellen Hovde, & Muffie Meyer – anthology
  • Silkwood (1983) – directed by Mike Nichols
  • Iceman (1984) – directed by Fred Schepisi
  • The Brother from Another Planet (1984) – directed by John Sayles
  • When Nature Calls (1985) – directed by Charles Kaufman
  • At Close Range (1986) – directed by James Foley
  • Broken Vows (1987) – directed by Jud Taylor – TV movie
  • Matewan (1987) – directed by John Sayles
  • Dominick and Eugene (1988) – directed by Robert M. Young
  • Stars and Bars (1988) – directed by Pat O’Connor
  • Call Me (1988) – directed by Sollace Mitchell
  • Eight Men Out (1988) – directed by John Sayles
  • Day One (1989) – directed by Joseph Sargent – TV movie
  • The Feud (1989) – directed by Bill D’Elia
  • Heat Wave (1990) – directed by Kevin Hooks – TV movie
  • Memphis Belle (1990) – directed by Michael Caton-Jones
  • Judgement (1990) – directed by Tom Topor – TV movie
  • Son of the Morning Star (1991) – directed by Mike Robe – miniseries
  • City of Hope (1991) – directed by John Sayles
  • Without Warning: The James Brady Story (1991) – directed by Michael Toshiyuki Uno – TV movie
  • Lethal Innocence (1991) – directed by Helene Whitney – TV movie
  • O Pioneers! (1992) – directed by
  • Glenn Jordan – TV movie
  • Big Girls Don’t Cry… They Get Even (1992) – directed by Joan Micklin Silver
  • A League of Their Own (1992) – directed by Penny Marshall
  • Bob Roberts (1992) – directed by Tim Robbins
  • Sneakers (1992) – directed by Phil Alden Robinson
  • Passion Fish (1992) – directed by John Sayles
  • Lost in Yonkers (1993) – directed by Martha Coolidge
  • The Firm (1993) – directed by Sydney Pollack
  • The American Clock (1993) – directed by Bob Clark
  • A Dangerous Woman (1993) – directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal
  • Stand Off (1994) – directed by Murray Battle
  • The River Wild (1994) – directed by Curtis Hanson
  • Losing Isaiah (1995) – directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal
  • Dolores Claiborne 1995) – directed by Taylor Hackford
  • Home for the Holidays (1995) – directed by Jodie Foster
  • Beyond the Call (1996) – directed by Tony Bill
  • Mother Night (1996) – directed by Keith Gordon
  • Song of Hiawatha (1997) – directed by Jeffrey Shore
  • L.A. Confidential (1997) – directed by Curtis Hanson
  • Bad Manners (1997) – directed by Jonathan Kaufer
  • The Climb (1997) – directed by Bob Swaim
  • Evidence of Blood (1998) – directed by Andrew Mondshein – TV movie
  • With Friends Like These… (1998) – directed by Philip Frank Messina
  • Simon Birch (1998)* – by Mark Steven Johnson
  • The Giraffe (1998) – directed by Dani Levy & Maria Schrader
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999) – directed by Michael Hoffman
  • Limbo (1999) – directed by John Sayles
  • A Map of the World (1999) – directed by Scott Elliott
  • Freedom Song (2000) – directed by Phil Alden Robinson – TV movie
  • Harrison’s Flowers (2000) – directed by Elie Chouraqui
  • The Miracle Worker (2000) – directed by Nadia Tass – TV movie
  • A Good Baby (2000) – directed by Katherine Dieckmann
  • Ball in the House (2001) – directed by Tanya Wexler
  • The Victim (2001) – directed by Doug Magee – short
  • Speakeasy (2002) – directed by Brendan Murphy
  • Blue Car (2002) – directed by Karen Moncrieff
  • Lathe of Heaven (2002) – directed by Philip Haas – TV movie
  • Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story (2002) – directed by Lawrence Schiller – TV movie
  • Twisted (2004) – directed by Philip Kaufman
  • Paradise (2004) – directed by Frank Pierson – TV movie
  • Missing in America (2005) – directed by Gabrielle Savage
  • Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) – directed by George Clooney
  • Shovel (2006) – directed by Nick Childs – short
  • The Notorious Betty Page (2006) – directed by Mary Harron
  • Heavens Fall (2006) – directed by Terry Green
  • We Are Marshall (2006) – directed by McG
  • The Sensation of Sight (2007) – directed by Aaron Wiederspahn
  • Steel Toes (2007) – directed by David Gow & Mark Adam
  • Fracture (2007) – directed by Gregory Hoblit
  • Racing Daylight (2007) – directed by Nicole Quinn
  • The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) – directed by Paul Greengrass
  • Matters of Life and Death (2007) – directed by Joseph Mazzello – short
  • The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) – directed by Mark Waters
  • The Uninvited (2009) – directed by Thomas & Charles Guard (as The Guard Brothers)
  • Cold Souls (2009) – directed by Sophie Barthes
  • The People Speak (2009) – directed by Chris Moore, Anthony Arnove, & Howard Zinn – documentary
  • Trumbo (2009) – directed by Peter Aski – documentary
  • Howl (2010) – directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman
  • The Tempest (2010) – directed by Julie Taymor
  • The Whistleblower (2010) – directed by Larysa Kondracki
  • Temple Grandin (2010) – directed by Mick Jackson – TV movie
  • Matadors (2010) – directed by Yves Simoneau – TV movie
  • Hemingway & Gellhorn (2012) – directed by Philip Kaufman – TV movie
  • Maladies (2012) – directed by Carter
  • The Bourne Legacy (2012) – directed by Tony Gilroy
  • Lincoln (2012) – directed by Steven Spielberg
  • No God, No Master (2013) – directed by Terry Green
  • Godzilla (2014) – directed by Gareth Edwards
  • Clementine (2014) – directed by Michael Dinner – TV movie
  • The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015) – directed by John Madden
  • Repeater (2015) – directed by Wade Vanover – short
  • The Debt (2015) – directed by Barney Elliott
  • Louder Than Bombs (2015) – directed by Joachim Trier
  • American Pastoral (2016) – directed by Ewan McGregor
  • He Does Not Want Peace (2016) – directed by Stephen Bozzo – short
  • Darkest Hour (2017) – directed by Joe Wright – voice cameo
  • November Criminals (2017) – directed by Sacha Gervasi
  • Fast Color (2018) – directed by Julia Hart
  • An Interview with God (2018) – directed by Perry Lang
  • UFO (2018) – directed by Ryan Eslinger
  • My Dinner with Hervé (2018) – directed by Sacha Gervasi
  • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)* – directed by Michael Dougherty
  • The Devil Has a Name (2019) – directed by Edward James Olmos
  • Walkaway Joe (2020) – directed by Tom Wright
  • Nomadland (2020) – directed by Chloé Zhao
  • Nightmare Alley (2021)* – directed by Guillermo del Toro