Tim Blake Nelson

Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor, writer, and director. He made his film debut in Nora Ephron’s This Is My Life (1992), with Julie Kavner, Samantha Mathis, Gaby Hoffmann, Carrie Fisher, and Dan Aykroyd. Other early films include Hal Hartley’s Amateur (1994), with Isabelle Huppert, Martin Donovan, and Elina Löwensohn; Heavyweights (1995), with Tom McGowan, Aaron Schwartz, Shaun Weiss, Tom Hodges, Leah Lail, Paul Feig, Kenan Thompson, and Ben Stiller; Mike Newell’s Donnie Brasco (1997), with Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo, and Anne Heche; Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (1998), with Sean Penn, Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte, Elias Koteas, Ben Chaplin, Adrien Brody, John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, Jared Leto, John C. Reilly and John Travolta; and Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet (2000), with Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Diane Venora, Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles, Bill Murray, Karl Geary, Steve Zahn, and Sam Shepard.

His best known films include Joel & Ethan Coen’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), with George Clooney, John Turturro, Chris Thomas King, John Goodman, Holly Hunter, and Charles Durning; Holes (2003), with Shia LaBeouf, Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, and Patricia Arquette; Syriana (2005), Stephan Gaghan’s Syriana (2005), with Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Alexander Siddig, and Mazhar Munir; the Marvel Cinematic Universe entry The Incredible Hulk (2008), with Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, Ty Burrell, and Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (2012), with Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, and Tommy Lee Jones; The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), with James Franco, Brendan Gleeson, Zoe Kazan, Liam Neeson, Tom Waits, Tyne Daly, Bill Heck, Grainger Hines, Harry Melling, Jonjo O’Neill, Chelcie Ross, and Saul Rubinek.

He’s also directed such films as Eye of God (1997), with Martha Plimpton, Kevin Anderson, Hal Holbrook, Nick Stahl, Richard Jenkins, Margo Martindale, and Mary Kay Place; O (2001), with Mekhi Phifer, Josh Hartnett, Julia Stiles, Elden Henson, Andrew Keegan, Rain Phoenix, Anthony A.J. Johnson, John Heard, and Martin Sheen; The Grey Zone (2002), with David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, Daniel Benzali, and Natasha Lyonne; Leaves of Grass (2010), with Norton, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Melanie Lynskey and Keri Russell; and Anesthesia (2016), with with Sam Waterston, Kristen Stewart, Glenn Close, Gretchen Mol, and Corey Stoll.

Other films in the 2000s include Finn Taylor’s Cherish (2002), with Robin Tunney; Miguel Arteta’s The Good Girl (2002), with Jennifer Aniston, Reilly, Jake Gyllenhaal, Zooey Deschanel, and Mike White; Spielberg’s Minority Report (2002), with Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow, and Peter Stormare; A Foreign Affair (2003), with David Arquette, Emily Mortimer, Lois Smith, and Megan Follows; Wonderland (2003), with Val Kilmer, Kate Bosworth, Dylan McDermott, Fisher, Lisa Kudrow, Josh Lucas, Christina Applegate, and Janeane Garofalo; Scooby-Doo 2 (2004), with Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, Matthew Lillard, Seth Green, Peter Boyle and Alicia Silverstone; The Last Shot (2004), with Matthew Broderick, Alec Baldwin, Toni Collette, Joan Cusack (uncredited), Tony Shalhoub, Buck Henry, Ray Liotta, Calista Flockhart, and Ian Gomez; and Meet the Fockers (2004), with Robert De Niro, Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, and Owen Wilson.

Films in the mid to late 2000s include The Amateurs (2005), with Jeff Bridges, Joe Pantoliano, William Fichtner, Ted Danson, Patrick Fugit, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Glenne Headly; My Suicidal Sweetheart (2005), with Lyonne, David Krumholtz, Lorraine Bracco, Rosanna Arquette, and David Paymer; The Big White (2005), with Robin Williams, Holly Hunter, Giovanni Ribisi, Harrelson, W. Earl Brown, and Alison Lohman; Fido (2006), with Carrie-Anne Moss, Billy Connolly, Dylan Baker, K’Sun Ray, and Henry Czerny; Hoot (2006), with Luke Wilson, Logan Lerman, Brie Larson,, Neil Flynn, Clark Gregg, and Robert Wagner; Joey Lauren Adams’s Come Early Morning (2006), with Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, and Diane Ladd; Mark Polish’s The Astronaut Farmer (2007), with Billy Bob Thornton, Virginia Madsen, and Bruce Dern; and American Violet (2009), with Nicole Beharie, Will Patton, Michael O’Keefe, Xzibit, Charles S. Dutton, and Alfre Woodard.

Films in the 2010s include Saint John of Las Vegas (2010), with Buscemi, Romany Malco, Sarah Silverman, Peter Dinklage, and Danny Trejo; Flypaper (2011), with Patrick Dempsey, Judd, Mekhi Phifer, John Ventimiglia, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Curtis Armstrong, and Octavia Spencer; Yelling to the Sky (2011), with Zoë Kravitz; The Big Year (2011), with Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson, Rashida Jones, Anjelica Huston, Jim Parsons, Rosamund Pike, JoBeth Williams, Brian Dennehy, and Diane Wiest; Big Miracle (2012), with Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski, Kristen Bell, Dermot Mulroney, Vinessa Shaw, and Danson; Detachment (2012), with Brody, Marcia Gay Harden, Christina Hendricks, William Petersen, Bryan Cranston, Betty Kaye, Sami Gayle, Lucy Liu, Danner, and James Caan; Blue Caprice (2013), with Isaiah Washington, Tequan Richmond, Joey Lauren Adams, and Leo Fitzpatrick; As I Lay Dying (2013), with James Franco (who also directed), Logan Marshall-Green, and Danny McBride; Kill the Messenger (2014), with Jeremy Renner, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosemarie DeWitt, Ray Liotta, Barry Pepper, Oliver Platt, Michael Sheen, Michael K. Williams, and Andy García; and The Homesman (2014), with Tommy Lee Jones (who also directed), Hilary Swank, Meryl Streep, Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Hailee Steinfeld, John Lithgow, Jesse Plemons, and Spader.

Films in the mid to late 2010s include Fantastic Four (2015), with Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, and Reg E. Cathey; The Confirmation (2016), with Clive Owen, Jaeden Martell, Maria Bello, Robert Forster, Patton Oswalt, Matthew Modine, and Spencer Drever; Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016), with Joe Alwyn, Garrett Hedlund, Stewart, Vin Diesel, Martin, and Chris Tucker; Deidra & Laney Rob a Train (2017), with Ashleigh Murray, Rachel Crow, David Sullivan, Danielle Nicolet, and Sasheer Zamata; Colossal (2017), with Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens, and Austin Stowell; The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2018), with Lerman, Elle Fanning, Michelle Monaghan, Nathan Lane, and Kyle Chandler; Angel Has Fallen (2019), with Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman, Jada Pinkett Smith, Lance Reddick, Piper Perabo, Nick Nolte, and Danny Huston; Zeroville (2019), with Franco, Megan Fox, Seth Rogen, Joey King, McBride, Craig Robinson and Jacki Weaver; The Report (2019), with Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Ted Levine, Michael C. Hall, Corey Stoll, Maura Tierney and Jon Hamm; and Destin Daniel Cretton’s Just Mercy (2019), with Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Rob Morgan, Rafe Spall, and Larson.

Films in the 2020s include The Jesus Rolls (2020), with Turturro (who also directed),Bobby Cannavale, Audrey Tautou, Christopher Walken, Hamm, Pete Davidson, and Sarandon; Monster (2021), with Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jennifer Ehle, Nasir “Nas” Jones, Rakim “A$AP Rocky” Mayers, Paul Ben-Victor, John David Washington, Jennifer Hudson, and Jeffrey Wright; Naked Singularity (2021), with John Boyega, Olivia Cooke, Bill Skarsgård, Ed Skrein, and Linda Lavin; Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley (2021), with Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Toni Collette, Jenkins, Ron Perlman, Rooney Mara, and Strathairn.

For his performance as Wade Tillman/Looking Glass in the HBO series Watchmen (2019), he was nominated for a Critics’ Choice Television Award. Other TV appearances include the miniseries Dead Man’s Walk (1996), with F. Murray Abraham, Keith Carradine, Patricia Childress, Dennehy, Edward James Olmos, Eric Schweig, Harry Dean Stanton, Jennifer Garner, and Chris Penn; the TV movie Warm Springs (2005), with Kenneth Branagh, Cynthia Nixon, Kathy Bates, Jane Alexander, and Paymer; miniseries Klondike (2014), with Abbie Cornish, Marton Csokas, Ian Hart, Greg Lawson, Conor Leslie, Richard Madden, Augustus Prew, Johnny Simmons, Tim Roth, and Sam Shepard; and miniseries Wormwood (2017), with Peter Sarsgaard, Molly Parker, Christian Camargo, Scott Shepherd, Jimmi Simpson, Bob Balaban, and Michael Chernus.

This Is My Life (1992) – directed by Nora Ephron
Motel Blue 19 (1993) – directed by Merrill Aldighieri & Joe Tripician
Amateur (1994) – directed by Hal Hartley
Heavyweights (1995) – directed by Steven Brill
Dead Man’s Walk (1996) – directed by Yves Simoneau – miniseries
Joe’s Apartment (1996)* – directed by John Payson
Donnie Brasco (1997) – directed by Mike Newell
Eye of God (1997) – director, writer only
Prix Fixe (1997) – directed by Jonathan Glatzer – short
The Thin Red Line (1998) – directed by Terrence Malick
Kanas (1998) – director, writer only – short
Hamlet (2000) – directed by Michael Almereyda
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) – directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
O (2001) – director only
Cherish (2002) – directed by Finn Taylor
Minority Report (2002)* – directed by Steven Spielberg
The Good Girl (2002) – directed by Miguel Arteta
The Grey Zone (2002) – director, writer, co-producer, co-editor only
A Foreign Affair (2003) – directed by Helmut Schlepp – also executive producer
Holes (2003)* – directed by Andrew Davis
Wonderland (2003) – directed by James Cox
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004) – directed by Raja Gosnell
The Last Shot (2004) – directed by Jeff Nathanson
Bereft (2004) – directed by Tim Daly & J. Clark Mathis – TV movie
Meet the Fockers (2004) – directed by Jay Roach
The Amateurs (2005) – directed by Michael Traeger
My Suicidal Sweetheart (2005) – directed by Michael Parness
Warm Springs (2005) – directed by Joseph Sargent – TV movie
Syriana (2005) – directed by Stephen Gaghan
The Big White (2005) – directed by Mark Mylod
Come Early Morning (2006) – directed by Joey Lauren Adams
Hoot (2006) – directed by Wil Shriner
Fido (2006) – directed by Andrew Currie
The Astronaut Farmer (2007) – directed by Michael Polish
The Darwin Awards (2007) – directed by Finn Taylor
The Incredible Hulk (2008)* – directed by Louis Leterrier
American Violet (2009) – directed by Tim Disney
Possible Side Effects (2009) – directed by Tim Robbins – TV movie
Saint John of Las Vegas (2010) – directed by Hue Rhodes
Leaves of Grass (2010) – also director, writer, producer
Flypaper (2011) – directed by Rob Minkoff
Yelling to the Sky (2011) – directed by Victoria Mahoney
The Big Year (2011) – directed by David Frankel
Big Miracle (2012) – directed by Ken Kwapis
Detachment (2012) – directed by Tony Kaye
Lincoln (2012) – directed by Steven Spielberg
Child of God (2013) – directed by James Franco
Snake & Mongoose (2013) – directed by Wayne Holloway
Blue Caprice (2013) – directed by Alexandre Moors
As I Lay Dying (2013) – directed by James Franco
Adventures in the Sin Bin (2013) – directed by Billy Federighi
Klondike (2014) – directed by Simon Cellan Jones – miniseries
Kill the Messenger (2014) – directed by Michael Cuesta
The Homesman (2014) – directed by Tommy Lee Jones
Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power (2014) – directed by Michael Pack – documentary
Fantastic Four (2015) – directed by Josh Trank
For Justice (2015) – directed by Ava DuVernay – TV movie
Anesthesia (2016) – also director, writer, producer
The Confirmation (2016) – directed by Bob Nelson
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016) – directed by Ang Lee
The Institute (2017) – directed by Pamela Romanowsky & James Franco
Deidra & Laney Rob a Train (2017) – directed by Sydney Freeland
Colossal (2017) – directed by Nacho Vigalondo
The Vanishing of Sidney Hall (2018) – directed by Shawn Christensen
Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People (2018) – directed by Oren Rudavsky – documentary
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) – directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
The Hustle (2019) – directed by Chris Addison – uncredited
Angel Has Fallen (2019) – directed by Ric Roman Waugh
The True Don Quixote (2919) – directed by Chris Poche
Sequestrada (2019) – directed by Sabrina McCormick & Soopum Sohn
Zeroville (2019) – directed by James Franco
The Report (2019) – directed by Scott Z. Burns
Just Mercy (2019) – directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
The Jesus Rolls (2020) – directed by John Turturro
Monster (2021) – directed by Anthony Mandler
Naked Singularity (2021) – directed by Chase Palmer
Old Henry (2021) – directed by Potsy Ponciroli – also executive producer
Ghosts of the Ozarks (2021) – directed by Matt Glass & Jordan Wayne Long
Nightmare Alley (2021)* – directed by Guillermo del Toro
Pinnochio (2022)* – directed by Guillermo del Toro & Mark Gustafson
Ninety-five Senses (2023) – directed by Jerusha Hess – short
Ghosted (2023) – directed by Dexter Fletcher
Dune: Part Two (2023) – directed by Denis Villeneuve
Providence (2023) directed by Potsy Ponciroli
Captain America: New World Order (2024) – directed by Julius Onah
The Long Home (202-) – directed by James Franco

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