Sam Waterston

Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television, and film. He has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and a BAFTA Award. His acting career has spanned over five decades acting on stage and screen. Waterston received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2010 and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2012.

Waterston studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and the American Actors Workshop. He started his career in theater on the New York stage, appearing in multiple revivals of Shakespeare. Waterston starred in numerous productions at the Public Theatre including ''Indians'' (1969), ''The Trial of Catonsville Nine'' (1970), ''A Doll's House'' (1975), ''Hamlet'' (1975), ''Measure for Measure'' (1977), and ''Benefactors'' (1980). He portrayed Abraham Lincoln on Broadway in ''Abe Lincoln in Illinois'' (1993) where he received a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination.

On the big screen, Waterston played Nick Carraway in ''The Great Gatsby'' (1974) earning a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture nomination. He received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in Roland Joffe's ''The Killing Fields'' (1984), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Waterston has acted in multiple Woody Allen films including ''Interiors'' (1978), ''Hannah and Her Sisters'' (1986), ''September'' (1987), and ''Crimes and Misdemeanors'' (1989). Other notable roles include in ''Rancho Deluxe'' (1975), ''Hopscotch'', and ''Heaven's Gate'' (both in 1980), ''The Man in the Moon'' (1991), ''Serial Mom'' (1994), ''Nixon'' (1995), ''Miss Sloane'' (2016) and ''On the Basis of Sex'' (2018).

One of Waterston's early television roles was the role of a shoe salesman in a television film adaptation of Tennessee Williams' ''The Glass Menagerie'', alongside Katharine Hepburn. He gained stardom portraying Jack McCoy on the NBC crime series ''Law & Order'' (1994–2010, 2022–), for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award along with Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award nominations. He had the title role in the BBC miniseries ''Oppenheimer'' (1980), which aired 1982 in the U.S. on American Playhouse. He also portrayed Abraham Lincoln in the miniseries ''Lincoln'' (1988) and the Ken Burns miniseries ''The Civil War'' (1990). From 2012 to 2014 he portrayed Charlie Skinner in Aaron Sorkin's political HBO drama series ''The Newsroom''. Other notable roles include in ''Godless'' (2017), ''Grace and Frankie'' (2015–2022), and ''The Dropout'' (2022). Provided by Wikipedia