Jeremy Strong | |
|---|---|
 Strong at the2025 NYFF | |
| Born | (1978-12-25)December 25, 1978 (age 46) Boston,Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education | Yale University (BA) |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1990s–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | Full list |
Jeremy Strong (born December 25, 1978) is an American actor.[1] Known for his intensemethod acting style in roles across both stage and screen,[a] he has receivedvarious accolades, including aTony Award, aPrimetime Emmy Award, and aGolden Globe as well as nominations for anAcademy Award and aBAFTA Award. In 2022, Strong was featured onTime's list of the100 most influential people in the world.[3][4]
A graduate ofYale University, Strong acted at both the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. His film debut came that same year with the comedyHumboldt County, and he played small roles in the filmsLincoln (2012),Zero Dark Thirty (2012),Parkland (2013) andThe Big Short (2015). Strong got hisbreakthrough with the portrayal ofKendall Roy in theHBO drama seriesSuccession (2018–2023), winning thePrimetime Emmy Award and theGolden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series.
Strong went on to act in the filmsThe Gentlemen (2019),The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), andArmageddon Time (2022). For his portrayal ofRoy Cohn in the biographical dramaThe Apprentice (2024) he earned Best Supporting Actor nominations for theAcademy Award,BAFTA,SAG andGolden Globe. The following year he portrayed music producerJon Landau in the musical biopicSpringsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025).
On stage, he made his off-Broadway debut was as a distraught soldier in theJohn Patrick Shanley playDefiance (2006), with his Broadway debut being in the role ofRichard Rich in the revival of theRobert Bolt playA Man for All Seasons (2008). He returned to Broadway playing a conscientious doctor in a small town in the revival of theHenrik Ibsen playAn Enemy of the People (2024) earning aTony Award for Best Actor in a Play.
Strong was born on Christmas Day 1978 inBoston, Massachusetts, to Maureen and David Strong. His mother is of Irish descent, and his father's family is Jewish, originally from Russia; his paternal grandfather worked as a plumber inQueens, New York.[5][6][7] His mother worked as a hospice nurse, and his father worked injuvenile jails.[2] He lived in a "rough neighborhood" in theJamaica Plain area of Boston, a place he often regarded as "somewhere I just wanted to get out of." His family was working class. Since his parents could not afford to go on vacations outside the Boston area, they put a canoe on cinder blocks in the family's backyard; Strong and his brothers would often sit in it and pretend to take trips.[2] His parents had a tumultuous relationship throughout his childhood and eventually divorced.[8]
When Strong was 10, his parents moved the family to the suburb ofSudbury,[9] for better schools. Strong recalled Sudbury as "a kind of country-club town where we didn't belong to the country club". His interest in acting began there, as he became involved with a children's theater group and performing in musicals. Among his costars in the children's theater group wasChris Evans' older sister; Evans remembers being impressed by Strong's performances. Later, Evans and Strong acted with each other in a high school production ofA Midsummer Night's Dream.[2]
Strong particularly idolized actorsDaniel Day-Lewis,Al Pacino, andDustin Hoffman—all famous for the lengths they went to preparing for roles—putting posters of their films on his bedroom wall and avidly following news of their careers as well as reading every interview they gave. When the 1996 film adaptation ofArthur Miller'sThe Crucible, starring Day-Lewis, was filmed near Boston, Strong got a job on the film's greenery crew, at one point holding up a branch outside a window during the filming of a scene. Strong worked on the sound crew forAmistad, holding aboom mike overAnthony Hopkins as he made a speech, and he helped to edit Pacino's directorial debutLooking for Richard.[2]
After high school, Strong applied to colleges with a letter of recommendation fromDreamWorks, which had madeAmistad. He was accepted at Yale University and granted a scholarship, intending to study drama.[10] On his first day in class, he found the professor's discussions ofKonstantin Stanislavski and accompanying blackboard illustrations so alienating that he decided immediately to change his major to English.[2]
Strong continued to act and starred in a number of plays at Yale, all of them produced through the student-runYale Dramatic Association, known as Dramat. The plays were all ones that Pacino had performed, such asAmerican Buffalo,The Indian Wants the Bronx, andHughie. Strong arranged an offstage visit from Pacino, which did not go down well with other members of Dramat, because it was budgeted so extravagantly that it nearly bankrupted their organization. Despite claiming not to remember the cost overruns, Strong admitted to being a "rogue agent" in planning the event. During one summer at Yale, Strong received an internship with Hoffman's production company. He also studied at theRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and theSteppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.[2]
After Yale, Strong moved to New York in 2001. He lived in a small apartment inSoHo, above a restaurant where he waited tables. Strong described it as a state of "gilded squalor" (in the words ofFrancis Bacon), with little but his bed, books, and a closet with expensive clothing. When not working, he persuaded local FedEx offices to give him some free envelopes in which he put headshots and recordings of himself performing monologues to distribute to talent agencies. For almost a year, he got no calls for auditions. In an attempt to get representation, Strong contacted his former high school classmateChris Evans, who had become successful afterNot Another Teen Movie. Evans set up a meeting between Strong and his agent atCreative Artists Agency, who chose not to sign Strong.[2]
The following summer, Strong got a spot in the summer company at theWilliamstown Theatre Festival in western Massachusetts. Strong continued to work offstage in theater and film. In 2003, his position as an assistant at an independent film production company led to his service as Day-Lewis's personal assistant onThe Ballad of Jack and Rose, released two years later. On set, he was so devoted to attending to Day-Lewis, who lived apart from his family during the shoot, that crew members nicknamed himCletus afterthe character fromThe Simpsons, for his focus on menial tasks. Strong has stated that at the end of the shoot, Day-Lewis wrote him a note "that contains many of what have become my most deeply held precepts and beliefs about this work." He has not publicized the contents of the note out of respect for Day-Lewis.[2]
Strong returned to Williamstown in 2004 when he was cast withJessica Chastain,Chris Messina, andMichelle Williams inThe Cherry Orchard. He became friends with all three actors, and for intermittent periods in the late 2000s, he lived in the basement of Williams' townhouse in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Boerum Hill when he could not afford his own apartment.[2]
During the mid-2000s, he worked as a typist for playwrightWendy Wasserstein. At night, he performed the role of an alcoholic Irishman in a one-manConor McPherson play in a small bar in Midtown Manhattan. After Wasserstein discovered how much time Strong was spending observing her building's Irish doorman for the part, she considered writing a play based on Strong and the doorman but was unable to proceed with it before her death in 2006.[2]Frank Rich, one of Wasserstein's close friends, said Strong was "her assistant, slash—to some extent—caregiver."[11]
By that time, Strong had begun gettingoff-Broadway roles. He took part in Marine weapons training atCamp Lejeune to prepare for his role as a marine in theJohn Patrick Shanley playDefiance (2005). David Rooney described Strong's character as a "a distraught, uneducated soldier from the small-town South". Rooney described his performance as "intense" noting, "while [the] dramaturgical shortcomings hamper the actors...Strong has emotional impact in his single scene."[12] Strong immersed himself in early17th-centuryDutch philosophy to play a youngBaruch Spinoza inDavid Ives'sNew Jerusalem in 2008. Also in 2008, Strong was asked tounderstudy with six hours' notice for an actor who had a family emergency; by the next night, he had memorized all the character's lines. He received favorable notice for this performance, and he was able to sign with an agent.[2]
Later in 2008, he made hisBroadway debut inA Man for All Seasons at theAmerican Airlines Theatre.[10] Strong portrayedSir Richard Rich oppositeFrank Langella asSir Thomas More.Ben Brantley ofThe New York Times described Strong as a "talented" actor portraying the "ambitious moral-chameleon".[13] He was chosen as the 2008/2009 Leonore Annenberg Fellow by Lincoln Center Theater and nominated for theLucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actor twice within a three-year period.[14][15] Strong'sDefiance role helped secure his first film role inHumboldt County.[9] He playedAbraham Lincoln's secretaryJohn George Nicolay, acting oppositeDaniel Day-Lewis inSteven Spielberg's historical dramaLincoln (2012).
He went on to play aCIA analyst inKathryn Bigelow's historical dramaZero Dark Thirty (2012),Lee Harvey Oswald in political dramaParkland (2013),James Reeb inAva DuVernay's civil rights dramaSelma (2014), and a real estate developer inAaron Sorkin's dramaMolly's Game (2017).[16] Strong was set to play a leading role in a major film for the first time inKathryn Bigelow's period crime dramaDetroit (2017) as a soldier and practiced his marksmanship in preparation, but he was fired from the film after the first day of shooting because, according to Bigelow, "the character wasn't working in the story." Strong later persuaded her to give him another part in the film.[2]
Strong's role in the 2015Adam McKay filmThe Big Short led McKay to offer him a part in the TV seriesSuccession.[9][17] He initially was interested in playing Roman Roy, the family's wisecracking youngest son, but after the part was given toKieran Culkin, Strong auditioned for the part of the middle son, Kendall Roy. The role was a career breakthrough for him; Strong's performance in the role has received universal acclaim from critics, and his performance won him aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2020.[18][2] He also received theGolden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama[19] and aScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series.TVLine named Strong "Performer of the Year" in 2021 for his work onSuccession, writing, "For three seasons now, Strong has been carefully crafting a portrait of a little boy lost, a man who knows how to play the corporate hero but doesn't know how to be OK with himself. ...Succession remains one of the best shows on television in large part because Strong's central performance is so complex and so fascinating."[20]
Strong appeared inGuy Ritchie's action comedyThe Gentlemen (2019), a film that he did not want to discuss on the record withThe New Yorker.[2] In 2020 he reunited with Sorkin playing a central role as anti-war activistJerry Rubin part of theChicago Seven in theAaron Sorkin directedNetflix dramaThe Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). David Rooney ofThe Hollywood Reporter wrote "Strong gives Jerry a touching puppy-dog innocence and vulnerability".[21] For his performance he was nominated for aScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.[22] The film received critical acclaim as well as nominations for 6Academy Awards.[23][24] In November 2021, it was reported that Strong was to star in and produceThe Best of Us, a TV series about the9/11 first responders.[25] He acted in theJames Graycoming-of-age dramaArmageddon Time (2022) alongsideAnne Hathaway andAnthony Hopkins. The film had its world premiere at the2022 Cannes Film Festival.[26]Justin Chang ofNPR wrote, "Strong is terrific — and very un-Kendall Roy-like — as Paul's father, a plumber with a big heart and a fierce temper".[27]
In 2024, Strong returned toBroadway in theAmy Herzog adaptation of theHenrik Ibsen playAn Enemy of the People directed bySam Gold.[28] He won theTony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his role as Dr. Thomas Stockmann, a principled doctor who attempts to alert the public that their town's spa water is contaminated.[29] He next portrayedRoy Cohn, a ruthless lawyer and mentor toDonald Trump, played bySebastian Stan, in the biographical dramaThe Apprentice, which premiered at the2024 Cannes Film Festival.[30]Owen Gleiberman ofVariety described his performance as "magnetic."[31] David Rooney ofThe Hollywood Reporter noted, "It's to Strong's credit that, while playing an odious, utterly irredeemable human being, he finds notes of pathos in Cohn's decline."[32] For his work, Strong was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for anAcademy Award, aBAFTA Award, aScreen Actors Guild Award, and aGolden Globe Award.[33][34][35][36][37]
In 2025, Strong was invited to serve as a jury member at the78th Cannes Film Festival.[38] He was also invited to join the Actors Branch of theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[39]
Strong portrayedJon Landau, manager forBruce Springsteen, in the upcoming biographical filmSpringsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, which will be released on October 24, 2025. The film is based on the book of the same name about the making of Springsteen's 1982 albumNebraska.[40] Strong will portrayMark Zuckerberg inThe Social Reckoning, a sequel toThe Social Network (2010), with Sorkin writing and directing. Strong will replaceJesse Eisenberg, who portrayed Zuckerberg in the first film.[41][42]
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Like his idolsDaniel Day-Lewis andDustin Hoffman, Strong prepares intensely for his roles, often to replicate some aspect of the character whether or not it is prominent in his portrayal. He has stated, "I think you have to go through whatever the ordeal is that the character has to go through". ForThe Judge, where he played the main character's developmentally disabled younger brother, he spent time with an autistic man as Hoffman had forRain Man, and he requested personalized props for the character not mentioned in the script. "All I know is, hecrosses the Rubicon", saidRobert Downey Jr., his costar inThe Judge.[2] ForThe Big Short, Strong followed his real life counterpart Vincent Daniel, and observed his mannerisms, which included constantly chewing gum, something Strong did in all of his scenes.[43] In preparation for hisSuccession audition for Kendall Roy, he readMichael Wolff's biography of media mogulRupert Murdoch andhis family, which mentions that Murdoch's sonJames is known for lacing his shoes very tightly; Strong thus did the same for the audition, believing that it expressed the character's "inner tensile strength".[2]
Strong's devotion to his craft occasionally has led to personal injury. In the first seasonSuccession episode "Whose Side Are You On?", his characterKendall had to run a considerable distance to be present at an important corporate board meeting after his limousine gets stuck in traffic. Because Strong wanted to be genuinely sweaty and breathless in every take, he ran as fast and far as he could inTom Ford dress shoes and fractured his foot. Two seasons later, he jumped off a 5-foot-high (1.5 m) platform, wearingGucci shoes while filming the episode "Too Much Birthday",[44] impacting his tibia and femur and requiring a leg brace. The take ultimately was not used.
Strong seldom rehearses, saying he wants "every scene to feel like I'm encountering a bear in the woods", an approach he admits may not be popular with his costars. OnThe Trial of the Chicago 7, Strong asked to be sprayed with tear gas. Director Aaron Sorkin stated "I don't like saying no to Jeremy... But there were 200 people in that scene and another seventy on the crew, so I declined to spray them with poison gas".[2]
OnSuccession, Strong intentionally deepened his alienation from the rest of the cast by timing his visits to the makeup trailer so that he is the only one there at the time. His costar Kieran Culkin has described Strong as being in "a bubble" before shoots: "It's hard for me to actually describe his process because I don't really see it".[2] Culkin has stated that Strong's methods are not intrusive to his own process.[45]Matthew Macfadyen has described Strong's techniques as "not the main event... That's not to say that's wrong. That's just not useful".[46]Brian Cox, who portrays Strong's character's father on the show, has expressed his concerns that Strong's intense approach to acting may lead to early burnout. However, he added that Strong's performance "is always extraordinary and excellent".[47] During the shooting ofThe Big Short, Strong similarly reduced the interactions with his cast mates, although he admitted to having a good time, he also found it to be "distracting" and "depleting," recalling, "These guys can all be in a comedy, but I need to feel like I’m in a global warming catastrophe documentary."[43]
Similar tomethod acting, Strong uses the term "identity diffusion" to describe is technique because he does not draw on his own life experience. "If I have any method at all, it is simply this: to clear away anything—anything—that is not the character and the circumstances of the scene... And usually that means clearing away almost everything around and inside you, so that you can be a more complete vessel for the work at hand". He quoted jazz pianistKeith Jarrett to explain his approach to acting: "I connect every music-making experience I have, including every day here in the studio, with a great power, and if I do not surrender to it nothing happens".[2]
Strong admits the intensity he brings to his work might cause him problems, and he has stated "I don't know if I even believe in balance... I believe in extremity". His wife has stated that "He does a really good job of maintaining what he's doing but also creating a space for the family and a normal life".[2]
Strong tends to pick films based on actual events, such asSelma,Detroit, andThe Trial of the Chicago 7. He has mentioned his preference for such films, saying he "never wanted anything more than to be part of telling stories that feel meaningful, films about social justice in particular."[48]
Along with Day-Lewis, Hoffman, and Pacino, Strong has mentionedIsabelle Huppert,Meryl Streep,Philip Seymour Hoffman,Anthony Hopkins,Ben Kingsley,Laurence Olivier,Robert Duvall,Ian Holm, andKenneth Branagh as his influences.[9][49][50]
In 2016, Strong married Emma Wall, aDanishpsychiatrist; they had met four years earlier at a party inNew York duringHurricane Sandy.[2] They have three daughters.[9][51][52][53][54] They live in New York and have homes inCopenhagen[54][55] andTisvilde. Strong has said he isnot a religious person.[2]
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Humboldt County | Peter | ||
| The Happening | Private Auster | |||
| 2009 | The Messenger | Return soldier | ||
| Kill Daddy Good Night | Bruce | |||
| Contact High | Carlos | |||
| 2010 | The Romantics | Pete | ||
| Yes | Man | Short film | ||
| 2011 | Love Is Like Life But Longer | Blind man | ||
| 2012 | Lincoln | John George Nicolay | ||
| Robot & Frank | Jake | |||
| Please, Alfonso | Alfonso | Short film | ||
| See Girl Run | Brandon | |||
| Zero Dark Thirty | Thomas | |||
| 2013 | Parkland | Lee Harvey Oswald | ||
| 2014 | The Judge | Dale Palmer | ||
| Time Out of Mind | Jack | |||
| Selma | James Reeb | |||
| 2015 | Black Mass | Josh Bond | ||
| The Big Short | Vinny Daniel | |||
| 2017 | Detroit | Attorney Lang | ||
| Molly's Game | Dean Keith | |||
| 2019 | Serenity | Reid Miller | ||
| The Gentlemen | Matthew Berger | |||
| 2020 | The Trial of the Chicago 7 | Jerry Rubin | ||
| 2022 | Armageddon Time | Irving Graff | ||
| 2024 | The Apprentice | Roy Cohn | [56] | |
| 2025 | Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere | Jon Landau | ||
| 2026 | The Social Reckoning† | Mark Zuckerberg | Filming | [57] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–2013 | The Good Wife | Matt Becker | 5 episodes |
| 2013 | Mob City | Mike Hendry | 4 episodes |
| 2016 | Masters of Sex | Art Dreesen | 9 episodes |
| 2018–2023 | Succession | Kendall Roy | Main role; 39 episodes |
| Year | Production | Role | Venue | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Haroun and the Sea of Stories | Mr. Sengupta / Khattam-Shud / Walrus | Williamstown Theatre Festival | [58] |
| 2005 | Defiance | PFC Evan Davis | Hallie Flanagan Davis Powerhouse Theater | |
| 2006 | Manhattan Theatre Club, Off-Broadway | [59] | ||
| Frank's Home | William | Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway | [60] | |
| 2007 | New Jerusalem | Baruch de Spinoza | Classic Stage Company, Off-Broadway | [61] |
| 2008 | A Man for All Seasons | Richard Rich | American Airlines Theatre,Broadway | [62] |
| 2009 | Our House | Merv | Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway | [63] |
| 2010 | The Coward | Lucidus Culling | The Duke on 42nd Street, Off-Broadway | [64] |
| 2011 | The Hallway Trilogy | Lucas | Rattlestick Playwrights Theater | [65] |
| 2012 | A Month in the Country | Mikhail Alexandrovitch Rakitin | Williamstown Theatre Festival | [66] |
| The Great God Pan | Jamie | Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway | [67] | |
| 2024 | An Enemy of the People | Doctor Thomas Stockmann | Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway | [68] |
Strong has receivednumerous accolades over his career for his roles on stage and screen. For his role asKendall Roy in theHBO drama seriesSuccession (2018–2023) he received aPrimetime Emmy Award, aGolden Globe Award, and aCritics' Choice Television Award as Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series, in addition to twoScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. For his role as Doctor Thomas Stockmannin theBroadway revival of theHenrik Ibsen playAn Enemy of the People he received theTony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play. Most recently he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for anAcademy Award, aBAFTA Award,Screen Actors Guild Award and aGolden Globe Award for his role asRoy Cohn inThe Apprentice.
