Bio
Sam Waterston is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy on the long-running drama series Law & Order.
Waterston is a six-time Emmy Award nominee (three times for Law & Order and three more for I'll Fly Away) who won the award for hosting the 10-part NBC informational series Lost Civilizations.
He also received a Golden Globe for I'll Fly Away and earned the 1999 Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance as McCoy.
In addition, Waterston also earned an Oscar nomination for Best Actor for his performance in The Killing Fields, and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Most Promising Newcomer for his portrayal of Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby. He has also been nominated for several BAFTA Awards.
Waterston's other notable feature credits include: the Woody Allen films Interiors, Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors; John Waters' Serial Mom, Hopscotch and Heaven's Gate; Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (with Katharine Hepburn) and Eagle's Wing with Martin Sheen and Harvey Keitel.
He also starred opposite Jeff Bridges in Tom McGuane's Rancho Deluxe and with Reese Witherspoon in Man in the Moon.
In addition, Waterston starred opposite Jennifer Beals and Lisa Gay Hamilton in the television movie A House Divided (which he also produced), and he portrayed Abraham Lincoln opposite Mary Tyler Moore in Gore Vidal's miniseries Lincoln.
He also appeared in the NBC movie The Matthew Shepard Story, which co-starred Stockard Channing.
More recent films include The Commission with Martin Landau and Le Divorce, with Kate Hudson, Glenn Close and Channing.
In 2000, Waterston appeared in the Syracuse Stage production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night. The critically praised production also starred his son, James Waterston (Another Time, The Lady and the Clarinet), as well as Elizabeth Franz (Death of a Salesman) and John Slattery.
Waterston's important stage work includes Broadway and off-Broadway productions as well as many plays with the New York Shakespeare Festival, such as As You Like It, Cymbeline, Measure for Measure and Hamlet.
He earned a Tony Award nomination for his role as Abe Lincoln in Abe Lincoln in Illinois at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York, as well as an Obie and Drama Desk Award for his portrayal of Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing.
In 2004 Waterston returned to The Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park in a reprise production of Much Ado About Nothing and this time portrayed Leonato opposite his daughter, Elisabeth (The Prince and Me) starring in the Hero role.
Waterston also appeared as Henry Carr in Tom Stoppard's Travesties at the Longwharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, and he starred in the world premiere of David Rabe's The Black Monk at Yale Repertory Theatre.
H also co-starred with Judy Davis in the premiere episode of the anthology series Masters of Science Fiction titled A Clean Escape, directed by Academy Award-winner Mark Rydell.
Waterston lives in Connecticut with his wife and children.