Biographies: John Lithgow - Actor

Biographies

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An American actor, born October 19, 1945 in Rochester, New York. Lithgow won 13 awards at several festivals, most notably the Emmy Award and the Golden Globes Award. He was also nominated for the American Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor twice, as Sam Burns in the movie Terms of Endearment (1983) and for the character of Roberta Muldoon in the movie The World According to Garp (1982). He also performed some songs for children.


John Lithgow is an American actor, musician and author poetry and children's literature. Born to a retired actress and a father who worked as a theatre producer and director, Lithgow moved around a lot as a child, as his father managed local and college theaters and Shakespeare festivals around the Midwest. He won a scholarship to Harvard University, where he got the acting bug. He then got a Fulbright scholarship to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He launched straight into a Broadway career, soon earning himself a Tony Award for "The Changing Room," and a second nomination for "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1985), and a third for "M. Butterfly" (1988). In 1982, he earned an Oscar nomination for his performance in "The World According to Garp." He was nominated again the next year for "Terms of Endearment." He's well known for playing Reverend Shaw Moore in "Flootloose," Dick Solomon on the sitcom "3rd Rock From the Sun," the voice of Lord Farquaad in "Shrek," and Arthur Mitchell on Showtime's "Dexter," for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy award. He won a Tony for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for "Sweet Smell of Success" in 2002.