Michael Stuhlbarg

Michael Stuhlbarg (born July 5, 1968) is an American actor.

He is known as a character actor having portrayed a variety of roles in film, television and theatre.

He has received several awards including two Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award.

Stuhlbarg trained at The Juilliard School in New York City, where he was a member of the Drama Division's Group 21 (1988–1992).

He graduated from Juilliard with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1992.

Stuhlbarg also studied acting at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Vilnius Conservatory in Lithuania, the British American Drama Academy at Oxford, and the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain at the University of London.

He also studied mime with Marcel Marceau.

Stuhlbarg is married to Mai-Linh Lofgren.

Stuhlbarg began his career appearing in stage productions.

In a 1993 production of Saint Joan, Stuhlbarg portrayed Charles VII of France; however, UPI critic Frederick M. Winship thought that Stuhlbarg was miscast in the production.

The following year, he portrayed the title character in a production of Richard II.

Writing for The New York Times, theater critic David Richards dubbed Stuhlbarg a "promising young actor", yet felt his portrayal of Richard came across as a "blend of Rasputin and an odious rent collector is altogether unavoidable, but I'd like to believe it's not his fault."

He starred in the two character play Old Wicked Songs throughout late 1995.

For his role in the 1996 production of the Eugene O'Neill play Long Day's Journey into Night, Stuhlbarg won the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Actor in a large company production.

Stuhlbarg had previously appeared in the play of the same by Nelson in 1996.

In a 1997 production of Henry VIII, Stuhlbarg played multiple roles, including Thomas Cranmer.

Stuhlbarg made his film debut in the 1998 drama A Price Above Rubies, which starred Renée Zellweger.

In the 1999 Studio 54 production of the musical Cabaret, Stuhlbarg played Ernst Ludwig, a German who in the course of the production is revealed to be a Nazi.

Stuhlbarg played the dual role of both Time and Clown in a 2000 production of William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale; The New York Press critic Jonathan Kalb praised his "endearing stutter and hopping gait".

In the Tim Blake Nelson-directed war drama The Grey Zone (2001), Stuhlbarg played a Jewish Hungarian who becomes a Sonderkommando in the Nazi Germany Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp.

On stage, Stuhlbarg has acted in numerous productions including the 2005 debut of Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman on Broadway, for which he won a Drama Desk Award and received a Tony Award nomination.

Stuhlbarg was born in Long Beach, California, the son of Susan and Mort Stuhlbarg, philanthropists.

His father had been a salesman, becoming a successful manufacturer of security products.

He was raised as a Reform Jew.

He has said, "It's more of a spiritual resonance as opposed to particularly of Judaism."

Following appearances in productions of Cymbeline, Twelfth Night, and The Persians, Stuhlbarg gave a critically acclaimed performance in the 2005 Broadway production of the Martin McDonagh play The Pillowman.

He played Michal, a mentally damaged man who has suffered years of abuse from his parents, and gained 50 pounds for the role.

Ben Brantley of The New York Times praised Stuhlbarg for "boldly and expertly" capturing "both the innocence and ugliness of Michal".

Stuhlbarg won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play and received his first Tony Award nomination for his performance.

In 2006, Stuhlbarg appeared in the plays Measure for Pleasure and The Voysey Inheritance.

He played a recurring role on Aaron Sorkin's television series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip from 2006 to 2007, which aired for one season.

His first film appearance of 2008 was the independent drama Afterschool, in which he played a "sanctimonious" high school principal and he had a one-line scene in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies as a lawyer.

Also in 2008, Stuhlbarg portrayed Prince Hamlet in Oskar Eustis' production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Delacorte Theater.

In August of that year, Stuhlbarg was cast as the lead character in the Coen brothers film A Serious Man.

He rose to prominence as troubled university professor Larry Gopnik in the 2009 dark comedy film A Serious Man, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.

Stuhlbarg's most notable roles in television include his performances as Arnold Rothstein in HBO's Boardwalk Empire (2010–2013), Richard A. Clarke in The Looming Tower (2018), and Richard Sackler in Dopesick (2021), receiving Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie nominations for the latter two.

His other supporting roles include Hugo (2011), Men in Black 3 (2012), Blue Jasmine (2013), Pawn Sacrifice (2014), Arrival (2016), Call Me by Your Name, and The Shape of Water (both 2017).

Stuhlbarg has since become known as a character actor and has appeared in numerous films and television series portraying real life figures, such as George Yeaman in Lincoln (2012), Lew Wasserman in Hitchcock (2012), Andy Hertzfeld in Steve Jobs (2015), Edward G. Robinson in Trumbo (2015), Abe Rosenthal in The Post (2017), and Stanley Edgar Hyman in Shirley (2020).

He joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe appearing as Nicodemus West in Doctor Strange (2016) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).

His other television appearances include FX's Fargo (2017), Showtime's Your Honor (2020–2023), and HBO's The Staircase (2022).