Crispin Glover

Crispin Hellion Glover (born April 20, 1964) is an American actor, filmmaker and artist.

He is known for portraying eccentric character roles on screen.

In the late 1980s, Glover started his company, Volcanic Eruptions, which publishes his books such as Rat Catching (1988) and also serves as the production company for the films he has directed, What Is It? (2005) and It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine. (2007).

These films have never received a traditional theatrical release; instead, Glover tours with the films, holding screenings in theatres around the world.

Glover was born in New York City.

He moved to Los Angeles with his family at the age of five.

He is the son of actor Bruce Glover and actress and dancer Marion Elizabeth Lillian Betty Krachey, who retired upon his birth.

He was named after the Saint Crispin's Day speech from William Shakespeare's play Henry V, which his parents enjoyed.

"Hellion", his real middle name, had earlier been used as a false middle name by his father, who did not like his own real Germanic middle name, Herbert.

Glover's father is of English, Czech, and Swedish descent, while his mother has Czech (area surrounding Milevsko) and German ancestry.

As a child, Glover attended the Mirman School from first through ninth grades.

He appeared in several sitcoms as a teenager, including Happy Days and Family Ties. He appeared in a main role alongside Nicolas Cage in a television pilot titled The Best Of Times (1981) which aired on ABC, but was never picked up by the network.

He then attended both Venice High for 10th and 11th grades, and Beverly Hills High School for 12th grade; he graduated in 1982.

Glover began acting professionally at the age of 13, his first role being Friedrich von Trapp in a theatre production of The Sound of Music at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with Florence Henderson.

His first film role was in My Tutor (1983), which he subsequently followed with roles in Teachers and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (both 1984).

His breakout role was as George McFly in Back to the Future (1985), which he followed by playing Layne, one of the leading roles in River's Edge (1986).

He then worked with director Trent Harris on the third chapter of the Beaver Trilogy, entitled The Orkly Kid (1985).

His breakout role was as George McFly in Robert Zemeckis's Back to the Future (1985), an international box office success.

His character was the father of Marty McFly, despite being three years younger than Michael J. Fox in real life.

During filming, Glover vocalized his objections to the film's ending, believing it to be too capitalistic and materialistic in intent.

Zemeckis ignored his complaints.

Due to these initial disagreements and a salary dispute, Glover did not return for either of the Back to the Future sequels and his role was taken over by Jeffrey Weissman.

After the success of Back to the Future, Glover sought to star in films that "questioned" the status quo and contained themes that aligned with his own interests.

This pursuit led him to star as Layne in River's Edge (1986).

Struggling to find any other films that reflected his own interests, Glover sought to work with film directors he admired.

Through the 1990s, Glover garnered attention for portraying smaller but notable roles, including Cousin Del in Wild at Heart (1990), Andy Warhol in The Doors (1991), Bobby McBurney in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and the Train Fireman in Dead Man (1995).

These include David Lynch on Wild at Heart (1990) and Hotel Room (1993), John Boorman on Where the Heart Is (1990), Dennis Hopper on Chasers (1994), and Miloš Forman on The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996).

He also became the first actor to portray Andy Warhol in a widely released film, Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991).

Starting with his role as the Thin Man in Charlie's Angels (2000), he began to star in more mainstream films.

Beginning in the 2000s, Glover chose the funding of his own films as a filmmaker to be the primary factor in deciding what films he would act in.

After this decision, Glover would feature more prominently in more mainstream films, starting with Charlie's Angels (2000), playing the role of The Thin Man, a role he would reprise in the 2003 sequel.

The character had initially been written as a speaking role, but Glover, noting that the lines as written were exposition, convinced the producers to eliminate the lines to create a precise image for the character.

The roles in these films include reprising his Thin Man role in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), portraying the titular character in Willard (2003), Grendel in Beowulf (2007), The Knave of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Phil in Hot Tub Time Machine (2010).

He would go on to portray the titular character in Willard (2003), his first time portraying the protagonist in a studio-funded film.

Glover appeared in Beowulf (2007), as the creature Grendel, playing the part through performance capture technology.

The film was his first collaboration with director Robert Zemeckis since the original Back to the Future.

In 2010, Glover played Ilosovic Stayne/the Knave of Hearts in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and the one-armed bellhop Phil in Hot Tub Time Machine.

From 2017 to 2021 he starred as Mr. World in the Starz television series American Gods.

Glover portrayed his first series regular role on television as Mr. World in American Gods (2017–2021), while continuing to still act in films like We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2018) and Roger Avery's Lucky Day (2019).

He reunited with River's Edge director Tim Hunter on the Bret Easton Ellis-scripted slasher film Smiley Face Killers (2020), as the main antagonist.