Photo: Rubenstein / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
John Lithgow might be the most complete actor America has produced in his generation. The résumé alone is absurd — Tony Awards in both play and musical categories, three Emmys for comedy, a Harvard education and a Fulbright — but what I value is the range behind it. He can be the funniest man in the room and, in his darker roles, the most terrifying, sometimes within the same year. Few performers move between the stage, sitcoms, voice work, and poetry without diluting any of them. At eighty he is still delivering some of his finest work, which tells me his secret was never technique alone but bottomless curiosity. That is the career I admire most.
Overview
John Arthur Lithgow ( LITH-goh; born October 19, 1945) is an American actor. He studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his diverse work on stage and screen.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- John Lithgow
- Name (Japanese)
- ジョン・リスゴー
- Reading
- じょん・りすごー
- Born
- October 19, 1945 (age 80)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Libra / Rooster
- Origin
- Rochester, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- television actor / film actor / musician / poet / voice actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Princeton High School
- University
- Harvard College
Awards & achievements
- 1973 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play
- 2002 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
- Fulbright Scholarship
- 1997 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy
- 2005 honorary doctor of Harvard University
- 1996 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
- 1997 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
- 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Television actor — see all → · Film actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-11
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.