William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor and director. His film career has been built on appearances in small, independent films, though he has also appeared in studio films. Macy has described himself as “sort of a Middle American, WASPy, Lutheran kind of guy… Everyman.”
He’s won two Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Joel & Ethan Coen‘s Fargo (1996), with Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, Peter Stormare, and Harve Presnell. He’s a frequent collaborator on stage and screen with playwright and filmmaker David Mamet. Other notable films of the 1990s include Mamet’s Homicide (1991), with Joe Montegna; Paul Thomas Anderson‘s Boogie Nights (1997), with Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Heather Graham, Don Cheadle, and Philip Seymour Hoffman; Wolfgang Petersen‘s Air Force One (1997), with Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Wendy Crewson, Xander Berkeley, Dean Stockwell, and Paul Guilfoyle; Barry Levinson‘s Wag the Dog (1997), with Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro; Gary Ross’s Pleasantville (1998), with Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Joan Allen, Jeff Daniels, J.T. Walsh, and Don Knotts; Kinka Usher’s Mystery Men (1999), with Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, Greg Kinnear, Janeane Garofalo, Paul Reubens, Kel Mitchell, Wes Studi, Geoffrey Rush, Lena Olin, Eddie Izzard, Claire Forlani, and Tom Waits; and Anderson’s Magnolia (1999), with much of the cast of Boogie Nights, along with Tom Cruise and Jason Robards. Other films include Mamet’s State and Main (2000), with Sarah Jessica Parker, Alec Baldwin, Hoffman, Rebecca Pidgeon, David Paymer, Patti LuPone, Clark Gregg, and Charles Durning; Henry Bromell’s Panic (2000), with Neve Campbell, Tracey Ullman, John Ritter and Donald Sutherland; Joe Johnston‘s Jurassic Park III (2001), with Sam Neill, Téa Leoni, Alessandro Nivola, Trevor Morgan, and Michael Jeter; Anthony & Joe Russo‘s Welcome to Collinwood (2002), with Isaiah Washington, Sam Rockwell, Jeter, Luis Guzmán, Patricia Clarkson, George Clooney, and Jennifer Esposito; Ross’s Seabiscuit (2003), with Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, and Elizabeth Banks; Cellular (2004), with Chris Evans, Jason Statham, and Kim Basinger; Breck Eisner’s Sahara (2005), with Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn and Penélope Cruz; Jason Reitman‘s Thank You For Smoking (2005), with Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Sam Elliott, Katie Holmes, David Koechner, Rob Lowe, J.K. Simmons, and Robert Duvall; Bobby (2006), with Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Laurence Fishburne, Spencer Garrett, Helen Hunt, Anthony Hopkins, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, Demi Moore, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, Freddy Rodriguez, Heather Graham, Elijah Wood and Emilio Estevez (who also directed). From 2011 to 2021, he has played Frank Gallagher, a main character in the Showtime adaptation of the British television series Shameless. He’s been married to actress Felicity Huffman since 1997.
Each review will be linked to the title below.
(*seen originally in theaters)
(**seen rereleased in theaters)
- Foolin’ Around (1980) – directed by Richard T. Heffron
- Somewhere in Time (1980) – directed by Jeannot Szwarc
- Without a Trace (1983) – directed by Stanley R. Jaffe
- The Last Dragon (1985) – directed by Michael Schultz
- Radio Days (1987) directed by Woody Allen
- House of Games (1987) – directed by David Mamet
- Things Change (1988) – directed by David Mamet
- Homicide (1991) – directed by David Mamet
- Being Human (1993) – directed by Bill Forsyth
- Benny & Joon (1993) – directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik
- Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) – directed by Steven Zaillian
- The Client (1994) – directed by Joel Schumacher
- Murder in the First (1995) – directed by Marc Rocco
- Oleanna (1995) – directed by David Mamet
- Dead on Sight (1995) –
- Tall Tale (1995) – directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik – uncredited
- Mr. Holland’s Opus (1995) – directed by Stephen Herek
- Evolver (1995) – directed by Mark Rosman
- Fargo (1996)** – directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
- Andersonville (1996) – directed by John Frankenheimer – TV movie
- Down Periscope (1996) – directed by David S. Ward
- Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) – directed by Rob Reiner
- Hit Me (1996) – directed by Steven Shainberg
- Colin Fitz Lives! (1997) – directed by Robert Bella
- Air Force One (1997) – directed by Wolfgang Petersen
- Boogie Nights (1997) – directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
- Wag the Dog (1997) – directed by Barry Levinson
- Pleasantville (1998)* – directed by Gary Ross
- Psycho (1998) – directed by Gus Van Sant
- The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue (1998) – directed by Dick Sebast – straight-to-video
- A Civil Action (1998) – directed by Steven Zaillian
- The Con (1998) – directed by Steven Schachter – also co-writer – TV movie
- Happy, Texas (1999) – directed by Mark Illsley
- Mystery Men (1999)* – directed by Kinka Usher
- A Slight Case of Murder (1999) – directed by Steven Schachter – TV movie
- The Night of the Headless Horseman (1999) – directed by Shane Williams
- Magnolia (1999) – directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
- State and Main (2000) – directed by David Mamet
- Panic (2000) – directed by Henry Bromell
- Jurassic Park III (2001) – directed by Joe Johnston
- Focus (2001) – directed by Neal Slavin
- It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) – directed by Kirk Thatcher – TV movie
- Door to Door (2002) – directed by Steven Schachter – also co-writer – TV movie
- Welcome to Collinwood (2002) – directed by Anthony & Joe Russo
- The Cooler (2003) – directed by Wayne Kramer
- Easy Riders, Raging Bulls (2003) – directed by Kenneth Bowser – narrator – documentary
- Stealing Sinatra – directed by Ron Underwood – TV movie
- Seabiscuit (2003) – directed by Gary Ross
- Cellular (2004) – directed by David R. Ellis
- In Enemy Hands (2004) – directed by Tony Giglio
- Spartan (2004) – directed by David Mamet
- Sahara (2005) – directed by Breck Eisner
- Edmond (2005) – directed by Stuart Gordon
- Thank You for Smoking (2005) – directed by Jason Reitman
- Doogal (2006) – directed by Dave Borthwick, Jean Duval, & Frank Passingham – aka The Magic Roundabout; Pollux – Le manège enchanté – English Dub – France/UK
- Bobby (2006) – directed by Emilio Estevez
- Everyone’s Hero (2006) – directed by Colin Brady, Christopher Reeve & Daniel St. Pierre
- Choose Your Own Adventure: The Abominable Snowman (2006) – directed by Bob Doucette – straight-to-video
- Inland Empire (2006) – directed by David Lynch
- Wild Hogs (2007) – directed by Walt Becker
- He Was a Quiet Man (2007) – directed by Frank Cappello
- The Deal (2008) – directed by Steven Schachter – also co-writer – straight-to-video
- Bart Got a Room (2008) – directed by Brian Hecker
- The Tale of Despereaux (2008) – directed by Sam Fell & Rob Stevenhagen
- The Maiden Heist (2009) – directed by Peter Hewitt
- Shorts (2009) – directed by Robert Rodriguez
- Marmaduke (2010) – directed by Tom Dey
- Dirty Girl (2010) – directed by Abe Sylvia
- The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) – directed by Brad Furman
- The Sessions (2012) – directed by Ben Lewin
- Ernest & Celestine (2012) – directed by Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar & Benjamin Renner – English dub
- A Single Shot (2013) – directed by David M. Rosenthal
- Trust Me (2013) – directed by Clark Gregg
- The Wind Rises (2013)** – directed by Hayao Miyazaki – English dub
- Rudderless (2014) – also director, co-writer
- Cake (2014) – directed by Daniel Barnz
- Two-Bit Waltz (2014) – directed by Clara Mamet
- Walter (2015) – directed by Anna Mastro
- Stealing Cars (2015) – directed by Bradley J. Kaplan
- Room (2015) – directed by Lenny Abrahamson
- Dial a Prayer (2015) – directed by Maggie Kiley
- Blood Father (2016) – directed by Jean-François Richet – France
- The Layover (2017) – director only
- Krystal (2017) – also director
- Maybe I Do (2023) – directed by Michael Jacobs
- Ricky Stanicky (2024) – directed by Peter Farrelly
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024) – directed by Wes Ball
- On Fire (202-) – directed by Sean McNamara
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