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 several 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 (1980), Heaven's Gate (1980), The Man in the Moon (1991), Serial Mom (1994), Nixon (1995), Miss Sloane (2016) and On the Basis of Sex (2018).

Waterston gained stardom portraying Jack McCoy on the NBC crime series Law & Order (1994–2010, 2022–2024), for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award along with Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award nominations. He portrayed J. Robert Oppenheimer in the BBC miniseries Oppenheimer (1980), and Abraham Lincoln in the miniseries Lincoln (1988). From 2012 to 2014, he portrayed Charlie Skinner in Aaron Sorkin's HBO drama series The Newsroom. Other notable roles include in Godless (2017), Grace and Frankie (2015–2022), and The Dropout (2022).