Tracy Letts | |
---|---|
Born | Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. | July 4, 1965
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1988–present |
Spouse | |
Children | 2 |
Parent(s) | Billie Letts Dennis Letts |
Awards | Pulitzer Prize for Drama Tony Award for Best Play Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play |
Tracy S. Letts (born July 4, 1965) is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He started his career at the Steppenwolf Theatre before making his Broadway debut as a playwright for August: Osage County (2007), for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. As an actor, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the Broadway revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2013). [1]
As a playwright, Letts is known for having written for the Steppenwolf Theatre, Off-Broadway and Broadway theatre. His works include: Killer Joe , Bug , Man from Nebraska , August: Osage County , Superior Donuts , Linda Vista, and The Minutes . Letts adapted three of his plays into films, Bug and Killer Joe , both directed by William Friedkin, and August: Osage County , directed by John Wells. His 2009 play Superior Donuts was adapted into a television series of the same name. As a stage actor, Letts has performed in various classic plays with the Steppenwolf Theatre since 1988. He made his acting Broadway debut as George in the revival of Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , which earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He continued acting on the Broadway stage in The Realistic Joneses , All My Sons , and The Minutes.
In film and television, he is known for his portrayal of Andrew Lockhart in seasons 3 and 4 of Showtime's Homeland , and pyramid-scheme con-artist Nick on the HBO comedy Divorce . In 2017, Letts starred in three critically acclaimed films: Azazel Jacobs' The Lovers , Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird , and Steven Spielberg's The Post . Lady Bird earned Letts a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. In 2019, he portrayed Henry Ford II in James Mangold's Ford v Ferrari and Mr. Dashwood in Gerwig's Little Women , the two also receiving Best Picture nominations.
Letts was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to author Billie Letts ( née Gipson) and college professor and actor Dennis Letts. [2] [3] He has two brothers, Shawn, a musician, and Dana. Letts was raised in Durant, Oklahoma, and graduated from Durant High School in the early 1980s. He moved to Dallas, where he waited tables and worked in telemarketing while beginning his acting career. He appeared in Jerry Flemmons' O Dammit!, which was part of a new playwrights' series sponsored by Southern Methodist University.
Letts moved to Chicago at the age of 20, working for the next 11 years at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Famous Door. He is still an active member of Steppenwolf. He was a founding member of Bang Bang Spontaneous Theatre, whose members included Greg Kotis, Michael Shannon, Paul Dillon, and Amy Pietz. [4] In 1991, Letts wrote the play Killer Joe . Two years later, the play premiered at the Next Lab Theater in Evanston, Illinois, followed by the 29th Street Rep in New York City. Since then, Killer Joe has been performed in a number of countries in 12 languages. [5]
His mother, Billie Letts, has said of his work, "I try to be upbeat and funny. Everybody in Tracy's stories gets naked or dead." [5] Letts's plays have depicted people struggling with moral and spiritual questions. He says he was inspired by the plays of Tennessee Williams and the novels of William Faulkner and Jim Thompson. Letts states that he considers sounds to be effective "storytelling tools" for theater. [6]
During the late 1980s through the late 2000s, Letts acted in many of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's productions, starring in Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile (1994).
In 2012, Letts gained attention for his Broadway debut performance in the revival of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Booth Theatre. [7] He received positive reviews and won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. [8]
In 2019, Letts appeared in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons with Annette Bening at Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre. The show officially opened on April 22, 2019 and closed on June 23, 2019. [9]
Letts has written over ten plays.[ citation needed ] His most famous, August: Osage County , premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on June 28, 2007. It had its Broadway debut at the Imperial Theatre on December 4, 2007; the production transferred to Broadway's Music Box Theatre on April 29, 2008. The Broadway show closed on June 28, 2009, after 648 performances and 18 previews. The show went on to receive seven Tony Award nominations, winning six, including Best Play. [10] The play won Letts the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008. Letts has also been a finalist for the Pulitzer drama prize for his plays Man from Nebraska and The Minutes ; the Pulitzer committee described The Minutes as a "shocking drama set in a seemingly mundane city council meeting that acidly articulates a uniquely American toxicity that feels both historic and contemporary." [11] [12] Letts starred in the Broadway production of The Minutes, his first time acting in one of his own plays. [13]
Early in his acting career, in the 1990s through the mid 2000s, Letts acted in TV shows including Prison Break , The District , Strong Medicine , Profiler , Judging Amy , The Drew Carey Show , Seinfeld , Early Edition , and Home Improvement .
In 2013–14, Letts joined the cast of Showtime's Homeland as US Senator Andrew Lockhart. He was nominated with the rest of the cast for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble.
In 2016, Letts joined HBO's marital comedy-drama Divorce . [14]
In 2018, Letts was cast in the second season of USA Network's anthology crime drama series The Sinner , opposite Bill Pullman and Carrie Coon. [15] He played Jack McKinney in HBO's 2022 series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty .
Letts has starred in Adam McKay's 2015 ensemble piece, The Big Short , [16] 2016's Wiener-Dog , Christine , and Elvis & Nixon ; and James Schamus's film adaptation of the Philip Roth novel, Indignation , [17] [18] as well as the true-story crime thriller adaptation Imperium . [19]
Letts then appeared in the 2017 films The Lovers , The Post , [20] and Lady Bird . [21] [22]
In 2019, Letts portrayed Henry Ford II in James Mangold's sports drama film Ford v Ferrari , and played Mr. Dashwood in Little Women , a film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel of the same name. [23]
Letts has written screenplays for three feature films based on his plays: Bug (directed by William Friedkin), Killer Joe (also directed by Friedkin); and August: Osage County (directed by John Wells). He also wrote the screenplay for the 2021 Netflix feature film The Woman in the Window , starring Amy Adams, based on the eponymous psychological thriller by A.J. Finn.
He married actress Carrie Coon in September 2013. [24] They have two children, born in 2018 [25] [26] and 2021. [27] [28] He has been sober since 1993. [29] He was in a relationship with actor Holly Wantuch until her sudden death in 1998. [30] Letts was once engaged to actress Sarah Paulson. [31]
Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
1993 | Killer Joe | ||
1996 | Bug | ||
2003 | Man from Nebraska | ||
2007 | August: Osage County | ||
2008 | Superior Donuts | ||
2009 | Three Sisters | Adaptation | [32] |
2015 | The Stretch | [33] | |
2016 | Mary Page Marlowe | [34] | |
2017 | Linda Vista | [35] | |
2017 | The Minutes | [36] | |
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
2006 | Bug | Adaptation of his play |
2007 | Cop Show | Short film |
2011 | Killer Joe | Adaptation of his play |
2013 | August: Osage County | Adaptation of his play |
2021 | The Woman in the Window | |
Year | Title | Role | Theatre |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | The Glass Menagerie | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre | |
1991–1995 | Bang Bang Spontaneous Theatre | Various characters | Chicago, No Exit Cafe |
1994 | Picasso At The Lapin Agile | Freddy | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
1999 | Three Days of Rain | Walker | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
2001 | Glengarry Glen Ross | John Williamson | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
2002 | The Dazzle | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre | |
2002 | Miracle on 34th Street | Lawyer | Chicago Center for Performing Arts |
2003 | Homebody/Kabul | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre | |
2004 | The Dresser | Norman | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
2005 | Last of the Boys | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre | |
2005 | Orson's Shadow | Kenneth Tynan | Off-Broadway, Barrow Street Theatre |
2005 | The Pain and the Itch | Cash | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
2006 | The Pillowman | Tupolski | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
2006 | The Well-Appointed Room | Stewart | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
2007 | Betrayal | Robert | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
2009 | American Buffalo | Walter "Teach" Cole | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
2010 | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | George | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
2012 | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | George | Broadway, Booth Theatre |
2014 | The Realistic Joneses | Bob Jones | Broadway, Lyceum Theatre |
2019 | All My Sons | Joe Keller | Broadway, American Airlines Theatre |
2020 | The Minutes | Mayor Superba | Broadway, Cort Theatre |
2022 | The Minutes | Mayor Superba | Broadway, Studio 54 [37] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1988 | Paramedics | Van Owner | |
1992 | Straight Talk | Sean | |
1998 | Chicago Cab | Sports Fan | |
U.S. Marshals | Sheriff Poe | ||
1999 | Guinevere | Zack | |
2007 | Cop Show | Michael Cooke | Short film |
2015 | The Big Short | Lawrence Fields | |
2016 | Wiener-Dog | Danny | |
Christine | Michael Nelson | ||
Elvis & Nixon | John Finlator | ||
Indignation | Hawes D. Caudwell | ||
Imperium | Dallas Wolf | ||
2017 | The Lovers | Michael | |
Lady Bird | Larry McPherson | ||
The Post | Fritz Beebe | ||
2019 | Ford v. Ferrari | Henry Ford II | |
Little Women | Mr. Dashwood | ||
2020 | French Exit | Franklin "Small Frank" Price (voice) | |
2021 | The Woman in the Window | Dr. Landy | Uncredited |
Ghostbusters: Afterlife | Jack | Uncredited | |
2022 | Deep Water | Don Wilson | |
2023 | Eric Larue | Bill Verne | |
2024 | McVeigh [38] | Richard Snell | |
Saturday Night | Herb Sargent | [39] | |
TBA | Rosebush Pruning | Filming |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1995 | Home Improvement | Henry | Episode: "Jill's Surprise Party" |
1996–1997 | Early Edition | Jonathan / Marksman | 2 episodes |
1997 | Seinfeld | Counterguy | Episode: "The Strike" |
1998 | The Drew Carey Show | Lomax | Episode: "Drew and the Conspiracy" |
1999 | Judging Amy | Mr. Kleinman | Episode: "Pilot" |
2000 | Profiler | Mr. Adams | Episode: "Train Man" |
2001 | Strong Medicine | Ken | Episode: "Wednesday Night Fever" |
2001 | The District | Brad Gilroy | Episode: "Melt Down" |
2006 | Prison Break | Peter Tucci | 2 episodes |
2013–2014 | Homeland | Senator/Director Andrew Lockhart | 17 episodes |
2016–2019 | Divorce | Nick | 17 episodes |
2017 | Comrade Detective | Vasile (voice) | Episode: "No Exit" |
2018 | The Sinner | Jack Novack | 7 episodes |
2022–2023 | Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty | Jack McKinney | 9 episodes |
2024 | Mr. Throwback | Mitch Grossman | 5 episodes |
2024 | The Simpsons | Himself (voice) | Episode: "Desperately Seeking Lisa" |
Theatre awards
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2004 | Pulitzer Prize | Drama | Man from Nebraska | Nominated | [40] |
2008 | August: Osage County | Won | [41] | ||
2008 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Won | [42] | |
2008 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | Won | [43] | |
2013 | Tony Awards | Best Leading Actor in a Play | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | Won | [44] |
2018 | Pulitzer Prize | Drama | The Minutes | Nominated | [45] |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Play | The Minutes | Nominated | |
Film and television awards
Year | Award | Category | Nominated Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Homeland | Nominated |
2014 | Nominated | |||
2014 | Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Adapted Screenplay | August: Osage County | Nominated |
2014 | Critics' Choice Movie Awards | Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated | |
2014 | Chicago Film Critics Association | Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated | |
2014 | Phoenix Film Critics Society | Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated | |
2014 | Seattle Film Critics Awards | Best Adapted Screenplay | Nominated | |
2018 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Lady Bird | Nominated |
2022 | Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Screenplay | The Woman in the Window | Nominated |
2024 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series | Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty: The New World | Nominated |
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a play by Edward Albee first staged in October 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of middle-aged couple Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they receive unwitting younger couple Nick and Honey as guests, and draw them into their bitter and frustrated relationship.
Will Eno is an American playwright based in Brooklyn, New York. His play, Thom Pain was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2005. His play The Realistic Joneses appeared on Broadway in 2014, where it received a Drama Desk Special Award and was named Best Play on Broadway by USA Today, and best American play of 2014 by The Guardian. His play The Open House was presented Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre in 2014 and won the Obie Award for Playwriting as well as other awards, and was on both TIME Magazine and Time Out New York 's Top Ten Plays of 2014.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theater company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Immaculate Conception grade school in Highland Park, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on Halsted Street. The theatre's name comes from Hermann Hesse's novel Steppenwolf, which original member Rick Argosh was reading during the company's inaugural production of Paul Zindel's play, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, in 1974. After occupying several theatres in Chicago, in 1991, it moved into its own purpose-built complex with three performing spaces, the largest seating 550.
Austin Campbell Pendleton is an American actor, playwright, theatre director, and instructor.
Francis V. Guinan Jr. is an American film, television and stage actor who is perhaps best known for his role as Edgar Teller the patriarch in the short-lived series Eerie, Indiana.
Anna Davida Shapiro is an American theater director, was the artistic director of the Steppenwolf Theater Company, and a professor at Northwestern University. Throughout her career, she has directed both the Steppenwolf Theater Company production of August: Osage County (2007) along with its Broadway debut (2008-2009), the Broadway debuts of The Motherfucker with the Hat (2011) and Fish in the Dark (2014), and Broadway revivals of This Is Our Youth and Of Mice and Men, both in 2014. She won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for her direction of August: Osage County.
August: Osage County is a tragicomedy play by Tracy Letts. It was the recipient of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on June 28, 2007, and closed on August 26, 2007. It had its Broadway debut at the Imperial Theater on December 4, 2007, and the production transferred to the Music Box Theatre on April 29, 2008. The Broadway show closed on June 28, 2009, after 648 performances and 18 previews.
Tina Landau is an American playwright and theatre director. Known for her large-scale, musical, and ensemble-driven work, Landau's productions have appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally, most extensively at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago where she is an ensemble member.
Bruce Norris is an American character actor and playwright associated with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago. His play Clybourne Park won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Dennis Letts was an American college professor, and later, in a second career, an actor. As the latter, he originated the critically successful role of Beverly Weston in the Steppenwolf Theatre Company production of the Tony-winning play August: Osage County in the summer of 2007, the writing of which had earned his son, Tracy Letts, a Pulitzer prize.
Deanna Dunagan is an American actress. While principally active as a stage actress, she has also worked in television and film. She is best known for her Tony Award-winning portrayal of Violet Weston in Tracy Letts' August: Osage County and for her portrayal of Nana in M. Night Shyamalan's 2015 film The Visit. She has also appeared in the recurring roles of Mother Bernadette on the Fox television series The Exorcist and Mrs. Charles on Chicago Med. She portrayed Dr. Willa Sipe in the 2018 film An Acceptable Loss by writer Joe Chappelle; and starred as Sharon in the 2021 film Stillwater alongside Matt Damon and Abigail Breslin.
Amy Morton is an American actress and director, best known for her work in theatre. Morton was nominated two times for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performances in August: Osage County and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. On screen, she is known for her performances in films Rookie of the Year (1993), Up in the Air (2009), The Dilemma (2011) and Bluebird (2013). Since 2014, Morton began starring as Sergeant Trudy Platt in the NBC drama series Chicago P.D.
Mariann Mayberry was an American television and stage actress.
Clybourne Park is a 2010 play by Bruce Norris inspired by Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun (1959). It portrays fictional events set during and after the Hansberry play, and is loosely based on historical events that took place in the city of Chicago. It premiered in February 2010 at Playwrights Horizons in New York. The play received its UK premiere at the Royal Court Theatre in London in a production directed by Dominic Cooke. The play received its Chicago premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in a production directed by Steppenwolf ensemble member Amy Morton. As described by The Washington Post, the play "applies a modern twist to the issues of race and housing and aspirations for a better life." Clybourne Park was awarded the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play.
Amy Herzog is an American playwright. She is known for her poignant and character-driven plays that explore themes of family dynamics, personal relationships, and the complexities of human experience. She has received a Drama Desk Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award.
The Flick is a play by Annie Baker that received the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and won the 2013 Obie Award for Playwriting. The Flick premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 2013.
Carrie Alexandra Coon is an American actress. On television, she has starred as Nora Durst in the HBO drama series The Leftovers (2014–2017) and played Gloria Burgle in the third season of the FX anthology series Fargo (2017). She won a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress for The Leftovers and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for Fargo. She also starred in the second season of the anthology drama series The Sinner (2018) and has played an aspiring socialite in the HBO period drama series The Gilded Age since 2022. For her work in The Gilded Age, she received another Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is an American playwright. His plays Gloria and Everybody were finalists for the 2016 and 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His play Appropriate made his Broadway debut as a playwright in 2023 and earned him his first Tony Award. His additional plays include An Octoroon and The Comeuppance. He was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2016.
Jeffrey Richards is an American Broadway theatre producer who has presented both new and revived works for the Broadway stage. His most notable productions include Spring Awakening, August: Osage County, Will Ferrell's You're Welcome America, and Porgy and Bess, as well as numerous premieres by Tracy Letts and David Mamet. He is the recipient of eight Tony Awards.
The Minutes is a comedic play written by Tracy Letts. It had its premiere at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago on November 9, 2017, and began previews at the James Earl Jones Theatre in New York City on February 25, 2020. It was scheduled to open on March 15, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, production was suspended. The production ultimately opened on April 17, 2022, at Studio 54.
This adaptation of the Russian masterpiece was commissioned by Artists Rep as part three of its four-part Chekhov project. Letts offers a fresh, new look at the decay of the privileged class and the search for meaning in the modern world, through the eyes of three dissatisfied sisters who desperately long for their treasured past.