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Awards won | 24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nominations | 70 |
John Lithgow is an American actor, musician, singer, comedian and author. Over his extensive career with diverse roles on stage and screen he has received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, six Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, an American Comedy Award, four Drama Desk Awards and has also been nominated for two Academy Awards and four Grammy Awards. [1] [2] Lithgow has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has been inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Lithgow received Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations for his performances as a transexual ex-football player in the comedy-drama The World According to Garp (1982) and a lonely banker in the family drama Terms of Endearment (1983). He portrayed Roger Ailes in the political drama Bombshell (2019) and prosecutor Peter Leaward in the western crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon (2023). For each film, Lithgow along with ensemble received nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
For his roles on television, he has received six Primetime Emmy Awards. He won his first for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series playing lonely man in Amazing Stories (1986), followed by three wins for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Dick Solomon in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996—2001). He later won for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for playing a serial killer in the crime series Dexter (2010), and for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series playing Winston Churchill in the Netflix historical drama series The Crown (2017).
Lithgow started his career acting in numerous productions at The Public Theatre and off Broadway. He gained acclaim for his extensive work on Broadway, where he has received two Tony Awards. He won his first for Best Featured Actor in a Play for playing a rugby player in The Changing Room (1973), and Best Actor in a Musical playing newspaper columnist J.J. Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success (2002). Lithgow was also Tony-nominated for his roles in Requiem for a Heavyweight (1985), M. Butterfly (1988), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (2005), and The Columnist (2012).
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1982 | Best Supporting Actor | The World According to Garp | Nominated | [3] |
1983 | Terms of Endearment | Nominated | [4] | |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
British Academy Television Awards | ||||
2017 | Best Supporting Actor | The Crown | Nominated | [5] |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Critics' Choice Movie Awards | ||||
2020 | Best Acting Ensemble | Bombshell | Nominated | [6] |
2024 | Killers of the Flower Moon | Nominated | [7] | |
2025 | Conclave | Won | [8] | |
Critics' Choice Television Awards | ||||
2016 | Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | The Crown | Won | [9] |
2021 | Perry Mason | Nominated | [10] | |
2023 | The Old Man | Nominated | [11] | |
2025 | Nominated | [12] |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1997 | Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy | 3rd Rock from the Sun | Won | [25] |
1998 | Nominated | [25] | ||
1999 | Nominated | [25] | ||
2010 | Best Supporting Actor – Television | Dexter | Won | [25] |
2017 | The Crown | Nominated | [25] | |
2023 | Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series | The Old Man | Nominated | [25] |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | Best Spoken Word Album for Children | Ogden Nash's the Christmas that Almost Wasn't | Nominated | [26] |
2004 | Best Spoken Word Album | The World According to Mr. Rogers | Nominated | [27] |
Best Spoken Word Album for Children | Carnival of the Animals | Nominated | ||
2006 | Best Musical Album for Children | The Sunny Side of the Street | Nominated | [28] |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series | 3rd Rock from the Sun | Won | [29] |
Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Nominated | |||
1997 | Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series | Won | [30] | |
Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Nominated | |||
1999 | Nominated | [31] | ||
2000 | Outstanding Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film | Don Quixote | Nominated | [32] |
2009 | Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series | Dexter | Nominated | [33] |
2016 | Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | The Crown | Won | [34] |
Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated | |||
2019 | Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture | Bombshell | Nominated | [35] |
2023 | Killers of the Flower Moon | Nominated | [36] | |
2024 | Conclave | Won | [37] |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2025 | Best Actor | Giant | Pending | [38] |
Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1973 | Best Supporting or Featured Actor in a Play | The Changing Room | Won | [39] |
1985 | Best Leading Actor in a Play | Requiem for a Heavyweight | Nominated | [40] |
1988 | M. Butterfly | Nominated | [41] | |
2002 | Best Leading Actor in a Musical | Sweet Smell of Success | Won | [42] |
2005 | Dirty Rotten Scoundrels | Nominated | [43] | |
2012 | Best Leading Actor in a Play | The Columnist | Nominated | [44] |
Organizations | Year | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Drama Desk Awards | 1973 | Outstanding Performance | The Changing Room | Won | |
1985 | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Requiem for a Heavyweight | Won | ||
1988 | M. Butterfly | Nominated | |||
2002 | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Sweet Smell of Success | Won | ||
2004 | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | Mrs. Farnsworth | Nominated | ||
Outer Critics Circle | 2002 | Best Actor in a Musical | Sweet Smell of Success | Won | |
2018 | Outstanding Solo Performance | John Lithgow: Stories by Heart | Nominated | ||
Organizations | Year | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
New York Film Critics Circle | 1982 | Best Supporting Actor | The World According to Garp | Won | |
1983 | Terms of Endearment / Twilight Zone: The Movie | Nominated | |||
Los Angeles Film Critics Association | 1982 | Best Supporting Actor | The World According to Garp | Won | |
1983 | Terms of Endearment / Twilight Zone: The Movie | Nominated | |||
Organizations | Year | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AACTA Awards | 2020 | Best International Supporting Actor – Cinema | Bombshell | Nominated | [45] |
People's Choice Awards | 1996 | Favorite Male Television Performer | 3rd Rock from the Sun | Nominated | |
1997 | Nominated | ||||
1998 | Nominated | ||||
1999 | Nominated | ||||
Satellite Awards | 1997 | Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy | 3rd Rock from the Sun | Won | |
1998 | Nominated | ||||
2009 | Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Dexter | Won | ||
Saturn Awards | 1984 | Best Supporting Actor | Twilight Zone: The Movie | Won | |
1985 | Best Supporting Actor | The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai | Nominated | ||
1993 | Best Actor | Raising Cain | Nominated | ||
2010 | Best Guest Starring Role on Television | Dexter | Nominated | ||
2019 | Best Supporting Actor | Pet Sematary | Nominated | ||
Organizations | Year | Award | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Hollywood Walk of Fame | 2001 | Inductee | Honored | [46] |
American Theater Hall of Fame | 2005 | Inductee | Honored | [47] |
Harvard University | 2005 | Honorary Doctorate | Honored | [48] |
American Academy of Arts and Sciences | 2010 | Fellow | Honored | [49] |
Harvard University | 2017 | Harvard Arts Medal | Honored | [50] |