David Strathairn's Main TV Roles Show Character(s) Alphas Dr. Leigh R… American Masters Narrator (3) Big Apple FBI Agent W…

Main Movie Roles 2009 - The Uninvited 2009 - The People Speak 2009 - Cold Souls 2008 - The Spiderwick Chronicles 2007 - The Bourne Ultimatum 2007 - My Blueberry Nights 2007 - Fracture 2006 - Steel Toes 2006 - We Are Marshall 2005 - Missing in America 2005 - The Notorious Bettie Page 2005 - Good Night, and Good Luck 1999 - A Midsummer Night's Dream 1998 - Simon Birch 1997 - Bad Manners 1997 - L.A. Confidential 1996 - Mother Night 1995 - Home for the Holidays 1995 - Losing Isaiah 1995 - Dolores Claiborne 1993 - The Firm 1993 - Lost in Yonkers 1992 - A League of Their Own 1992 - Big Girls Don't Cry... They Get Even 1992 - Passion Fish 1992 - Bob Roberts 1992 - Sneakers 1991 - City of Hope 1990 - Memphis Belle 1988 - Call Me 1988 - Eight Men Out 1987 - Matewan 1986 - At Close Range 1984 - The Brother From Another Planet 1984 - Iceman 1983 - Silkwood 1900 - Heavens Fall

BIOGRAPHY:

David Strathairn was born on January 26, 1949 in San Francisco, California. His father was a physician and he has one sibling, a brother Tom. He attended Williams College, where he demonstrated great interest in the theater, and first befriended John Sayles, with whom he would later frequently collaborate. Strathairn graduated college and traveled to Florida to visit with a grandfather, but the grandfather passed away while Strathairn was en route. Strathairn, finding himself freshly-arrived and without friends in Florida, decided instead to join the Ringling Brothers Clown College and subsequently worked as a clown for six months in a traveling circus.

Relocating to New York State, he spent several years hitchhiking across America to work in local theaters during the summers. During one of these summers Strathairn reunited with Sayles, and this eventually resulted in his role in the highly regarded Return of the Secaucus Seven (1980), Sayle's directorial debut.

Thereafter Strathairn developed an extensive resume of supporting roles, which have become increasingly substantial as his stature in the industry has grown. Only a few examples of his work include an off-beat patient of the psychiatrist played by Dudley Moore in the romantic comedy Lovesick (1983), in Silkwood (1983) as Welsey, in L.A. Confidential (1997) as the enigmatic millionaire Pierce Patchett, and in A Map of the World (1999) as Howard, the husband of Sigourney Weaver's character. Sayles frequently casts Strathairn, whose performances can be seen in Sayles' The Brother from Another Planet (1984), Matewan (1987), Eight Men Out (1988), City of Hope (1991), and Passion Fish (1992). Perhaps most notable of his collaborations with Sayles is his superb performance co-starring with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio in Limbo (1999).

He works in television occasionally and may be familiar to television viewers as Molly's boss in the series "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd" (1987).

Strathairn continues to be one of the most active male supporting actors in American film today, his work is highly regarded, and he can be counted on to deliver an understated yet powerful performance. His craggy, unorthodox good looks are perhaps attributable to his mixed Scottish and Hawaiian ancestry. Strathairn lives with his wife Logan and two children in Upstate New York.


TRIVIA:

• He is of Scottish and Hawaiian extraction
• Has a brother, Tom, who is a teacher.
• Last name is pronounced struh-THAIRN.
• Attended Williams College with director 'John Sayles' (qv), who regularly casts Straithairn in his films.
• Father of 'Tay Strathairn' (qv) and Ebbe Strathairn (born 1987).
• Has played Joseph Mazzello's father in two films: The River Wild and Simon Birch.
• Recently filmed an 'Edward R. Murrow' (qv)-esque campaign ad for Kirsten Gillibrand's congressional campaign in New York's 20th District, his Congressional District.
• Went to Williams College in Williamstown, MA. and Ringling Bros. Clown College, FL.