Billy Crudup | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Crudup at the 2025New York Film Festival | |
| Born | William Gaither Crudup (1968-07-08)July 8, 1968 (age 57) Manhasset, New York, U.S. |
| Education | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA) New York University (MFA) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Spouse | |
| Partner(s) | Mary-Louise Parker (1996–2003) Claire Danes (2003–2006) |
| Children | William Atticus Parker |
William Gaither Crudup (/ˈkruːdəp/; born July 8, 1968)[1] is an American actor. He was nominated for anIndependent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for his performance inJesus' Son (1999). He went on to star in high-profile films, includingAlmost Famous (2000),Big Fish (2003),Mission: Impossible III (2006),Watchmen (2009),Public Enemies (2009),The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015),Jackie (2016), andAlien: Covenant (2017), in both lead and supporting roles.
Crudup is a four-timeTony Award nominee, winning theTony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance inTom Stoppard's playThe Coast of Utopia in 2007. He has also starred in the streaming television seriesGypsy (2017), andThe Morning Show (2019–present), which earned him twoPrimetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and twoCritics' Choice Television Awards,[2] andHello Tomorrow! (2023). In June 2023, he married British actressNaomi Watts.[3]
Crudup was born inManhasset, New York. His parents, Georgann (née Gaither) and Thomas Henry Crudup III divorced during his childhood, and later remarried, before divorcing a second time.[4][5][6] Crudup has spoken of his father, who died in 2005, as an "incessant gambler and hustler salesman" who continuously sought "to hit the jackpot" throughout his life.[7]
On his father's side, he is a descendant of CongressmanJosiah Crudup of North Carolina.[8] His maternal grandfather was William Cotter "Billy" Gaither, Jr., a well-known Florida trial lawyer, and his maternal grandmother later remarried to Episcopal bishopJames Duncan.[9][10][11]
The middle-born of three brothers, Crudup's brothers, Tommy and Brooks, are both producers. He left New York with his family when he was about eight years old, first living in Texas, then in Florida. He graduated fromSaint Thomas Aquinas High School inFort Lauderdale, Florida in 1986.
Crudup attended theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received an undergraduate degree, and he continued his passion for acting with the undergraduate acting company, LAB! Theatre. He also acted for UNC-STV's most popular show, General College. He was a member of the Beta chapter ofDelta Kappa Epsilon. He then studied atNew York University'sTisch School of the Arts graduate acting program, where he earned aMaster of Fine Arts degree in 1994.
Crudup began acting in films such as 1996'sSleepers, 1997'sInventing the Abbotts, and 1998'sWithout Limits, where he played the role of running legend and OlympianSteve Prefontaine. His first role in an animated feature was in 1999's English release ofPrincess Mononoke, in which he starred as Ashitaka. He then played lead guitarist Russell Hammond from Stillwater, the fictional band at the center ofCameron Crowe'sAlmost Famous (2000). In 2006'sThe Good Shepherd, he played British spy Arch Cummings, a stand-in forKim Philby. The same year, he played a supporting role inMission: Impossible III. In 2007, he played the leading role of Henry Roth in the filmDedication.
Crudup completed filmingWatchmen with directorZack Snyder in Vancouver,British Columbia. He portrayed the superheroDoctor Manhattan. He portrayed former U.S. Secretary of the TreasuryTimothy Geithner in a TV film about 2008's financial crisis,Too Big to Fail (2011). Crudup stars in theApple TV+ seriesThe Morning Show, for which he won aPrimetime Emmy Award in 2020 and 2024 and aCritics' Choice Television Award in 2020 and 2023.
A year after graduating from Tisch, Crudup made his debut onBroadway in theLincoln Center Theater production ofTom Stoppard'sArcadia.[citation needed]
Crudup received a 2002Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play for his performance asthe title character inThe Elephant Man on Broadway, as well as a 2005 nomination for his role as Katurian in the Broadway production ofThe Pillowman, also starringJeff Goldblum, which closed on September 18, 2005. From October 2006 through May 2007, he was featured in the first two parts ofThe Coast of Utopia byTom Stoppard atLincoln Center, playing literary criticVissarion Belinsky, for which he received a 2007Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.[12]
He starred inThe Metal Children, an off-Broadway play written and directed byAdam Rapp in 2010.[13]
In 2011, Crudup received a Tony Award nomination for Featured Actor in a Play for his role in the Broadway revival ofArcadia.[14]
In August 2013, he co-starred withIan McKellen andPatrick Stewart in theHarold Pinter playNo Man's Land as well as inWaiting for Godot at theBerkeley Repertory Theatre. The shows transferred to TheCort Theatre in New York City, where they ran in repertory until March 2014.[15]
In November 2017, he starred in the world premiere ofDavid Cale's one-man playHarry Clarke atVineyard Theatre. It moved to theMinetta Lane Theatre the following spring.[16]
From 1998 to 2005, Crudup was the narrator for the U.S. television ad campaignPriceless forMastercard. In the ads, the narrator (Crudup) lists the prices of two goods or services, then lists some third, intangible benefit gained from those purchases and concludes, "priceless". He said in 2005 that appearing in the ads "changed my life", in that they gave him the financial freedom to pursue the acting work that he wanted to do.[17]
He appeared asZartan in the 2009 parody videoThe Ballad of G.I. Joe on the websiteFunny or Die.
From 1996 to November 2003, Crudup was in a relationship with actressMary-Louise Parker. She was seven months pregnant with their son,William Atticus Parker, born in January 2004, when Crudup ended their relationship and began dating actressClaire Danes.[18] Crudup and Danes separated in 2006.[19][20] In 2017, Crudup began dating British actressNaomi Watts, after the two met on the set of the Netflix drama seriesGypsy.[21] The couple married in New York City in June 2023.[3][22] In June 2024, Watts and Crudup celebrated their nuptials in a second ceremony surrounded by their family in Mexico.[23]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Too Big to Fail | Timothy Geithner | Television film |
| 2017 | Gypsy | Michael Holloway | Main role, 10 episodes |
| 2019 | At Home with Amy Sedaris | Dr. Raddish | Episode: "Halloween"[25] |
| 2019–present | The Morning Show | Cory Ellison | Main role |
| 2022 | The Last Movie Stars | James Goldstone (voice) | Docuseries |
| 2023 | Hello Tomorrow! | Jack Billings | Main role |
The following is a list of accolades Crudup has received or been nominated for throughout his film, television and theatre career:
Actor Billy Crudup is 54.
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