Famous Theater Actors a to z

Bud Abbott was a comedian best known for playing the "straight man" of the Abbott and Costello comedy duo.

Ira Aldridge was a 19th century African-American actor who became a renowned interpreter of Shakespearean tragedy on the European stage.

Film, theater and television actor Jason Alexander played George Costanza opposite Jerry Seinfeld on the popular television sitcom Seinfeld.

Actor and director Alan Arkin is a three-time Academy Award nominee, whose notable films include Catch-22 and Wait Until Dark.

Antonin Artaud was a French actor, costume designer and writer who revolutionized drama with his idea of a Theater of Cruelty.

William Atherton is an American actor known for playing heavies in films like Ghostbusters and Die Hard.

American movie, television and theater actor Alec Baldwin is the star of the sitcom 30 Rock, for which he received Golden Globes and an Emmy.

Jean-Louis Barrault was a French actor director, and mime. He is best known for his role in the film The Children of Paradise (1945).

Philip Barry is an American playwright best known for writing comedies of life. His most famous play is The Philadelphia Story.

Actor Sean Bean played the villains in Patriot Games and GoldenEye. More recently, he played Boromir in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Odysseus in Troy.

Sir Herbert Beerbohm was a stage actor and well-known figure in English theater. He both managed and produced several plays in London including Charles Dickens and Shakespearean classics.

Jean-Paul Belmondo is a French actor best known for starring in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless.

Roberto Benigni is an Italian actor, director and producer best known for his 1997 Oscar winning film La Vita e Bella (Life is Beautiful).

On April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln while he was watching Our American Cousin at Ford Theater in Washington, D.C.

Actor Ernest Borgnine’s role in the film Marty transformed him from a stereotyped character actor to a leading man, earning him an Academy Award as Best Actor.

Tom Bosley was an award-winning American actor best known for playing Howard Cunningham in the 1970s hit TV sitcom Happy Days.

Charles Boyer was an Oscar-nominated French actor of stage, film and television with a career that spanned almost six decades.

Jeremy Brett was a British actor and singer known for his roles in My Fair Lady and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Matthew Broderick is an American actor who became a star with his role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He's also known for Broadway role in The Producers.

Mel Brooks is an iconic filmmaker known for comedies like The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, among other works.

Since the end of the 1960s, Actor Roscoe Lee Browne made steady television appearances, including on Barney Miller, The Cosby Show, ER and Will & Grace.

Yul Brynner was an actor of stage and screen most famous for portraying King Mongkut of Siam in The King and I.

Jim J. Bullock is an American actor best known for his starring role in the 1980's sitcom Too Close for Comfort. He struggled to come out as gay and HIV positive.

George Burns was a comedian who worked in vaudeville, radio, film and television. His long-time performance partner and wife was comedienne Gracie Allen. Burns lived until age 100.

Steve Buscemi is a popular character actor, director and screenwriter. He's known for his role on the critically acclaimed series Boardwalk Empire.

Actor Red Buttons got his name from the flame-colored hair and uniform as a bellhop. He is best known as a comedian but he had a prolific film career as well.

Actor and producer Gabriel Byrne was involved in many successful films, including Little Women, The Usual Suspects, Vanity Fair and Julie and Julia.

Actor James Caan gave an Oscar-nominated performance as Sonny Corleone in Coppola’s The Godfather and played a writer held hostage in Stephen King’s Misery.

Television and film actor Steve Carell earned recognition on The Dana Carvey Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Office and in The 40 Year Old Virgin.

Art Carney was an Oscar-winning actor and comedian best known for his role as Jackie Gleason's best friend, Ed Norton, on the pioneering sitcom The Honeymooners.

Actress Kristin Chenoweth is best known for her Broadway roles in Wicked and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, as well as on TV show The West Wing.

Actor Lee J. Cobb had roles in some eighty movies. Despite his success in Hollywood, he was probably most proud of his stage work in Death of a Salesman.

Ronald Colman was an Academy Award-winning British actor.

Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane is best known for his roles such as Hagrid the Giant in the Harry Potter series and Mr. Hyde in Van Helsing.

Oscar-winning Scottish actor Sean Connery played "007" in the first James Bond spy movies. He also played the Indiane Jones's father in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Daniel Craig is an English actor who has played a wide varity of roles but is best known for playing the most recent incarnation of James Bond.

Roger Daltrey is a rock musician and singer who’s the former lead vocalist of The Who. He’s also a film and TV actor.

Thomas Arthur Darvill is a British actor and musician, best known for his role as Rory Williams, the Eleventh Doctor's companion in the popular sci-fi program Doctor Who.

Academy Award-winning English actor Daniel Day-Lewis is known for going to extreme lengths to prepare for a role. He has starred in several films, including Sunday, Bloody Sunday; My Beautiful Laundrette; My Left Foot; and Lincoln.

Legendary award-winning actor Robert De Niro has starred in such films as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Godfather: Part II and Silver Linings Playbook.

Paul Dooley drew comic strips for his local newspaper before he turned to the big screen, taking roles in films such as Sixteen Candles and Breaking Away.

Actor Kirk Douglas brought his formidable chin and talent to movies like Spartacus and The Bad and the Beautiful. You may also know him as the father of Michael Douglas.

Jimmy Durante was an American comedian whose career in every major entertainment performance medium spanned more than six decades.

Actor Charles Durning appeared in such films as The Sting, Tootsie and Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. He also had roles on such shows as Rescue Me, Everybody Loves Raymond and Evening Shade.

Dancer and actor Buddy Ebsen performed on Broadway and films, but he’s best known for his role as Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies, which ran for nine seasons.

British-born Christopher Eccleston is best known as the ninth actor to play the lead role in the popular U.K. science-fiction television program Doctor Who.

American actor Jesse Eisenberg is known for memorable performances in movies from indie drama The Squid and the Whale to Oscar contender The Social Network.

Nelsan Ellis achieved breakout success when he took the part of Lafayette on the hit HBO vampire series True Blood.

Rupert Everett is a British actor known for roles in the films My Best Friend’s Wedding, Shakespeare in Love and a Midsummer Night’s Dream.

American actor Peter Falk is best known for his role as the television detective Lieutenant Columbo in the television series Columbo.

Albert Finney is an Oscar-nominated English actor known for playing Audrey Hepburn's love interest in Two for the Road and the title role in the musical version of A Christmas Carol, among several other roles.

Retired magician Siegfried Fischbacher was one-half of the performing duo Siegfried and Roy.

Actor Laurence Fishburne has appeared in Boyz N The Hood, What's Love Got to Do With It? (for which he received an Academy Award nomination) and The Matrix.

Henry Fonda was an award-winning American actor best known for him film roles in The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and On Golden Pond (1981).

John Forsythe was a theater, film and TV actor. He won Golden Globes for playing Blake Carrington in Aaron Spelling’s long-running prime-time drama Dynasty.

Respected actor Morgan Freeman has appeared in such films as Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption, Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven and Batman Begins.

Playwright Christopher Fry wrote a series of major plays in free verse, with undertones of religion and mysticism, including A Phoenix Too Frequent (1946).

Irish actor Michael Gambon is best known for his role as Albus Dumbledore in five of the seven J.K. Rowling Harry Potter films. Prior to his role as Dumbledore, Gambon was known as one of the leading thespians of his generation.

James Gandolfini is an American actor best known for his role as a mobster in the hit 1999 HBO television series The Sopranos.

Actor Andrew Garfield has appeared in such films as The Social Network and The Amazing Spider-Man.

Richard Gere is an American actor best known for his status as an American sex symbol and his leading film roles, including in Report to the Commissioner, American Gigolo, An Officer and A Gentleman, Pretty Woman and Chicago.

John Gielgud was a prolific Shakespearean actor known for his varied film and TV work as well, including Arthur and Prospero’s Books.

Actor, director, writer and producer Kelsey Grammer is perhaps best known for his role as Dr. Frasier Crane in the sitcom Cheers and its spin-off Frasier.

Hugh Grant is a Golden Globe Award-winning British actor who starred in Four Weddings and a Funeral and the film adaptation of Bridget Jones's Diary.

British film and theater actor Rupert Graves starred in the period films A Room with a View and Maurice, and the plays The Iceman Cometh and Closer.

Actor, playwright and screenwriter Spalding Gray wrote and performed his own roles in Monster in a Box and Gray’s Anatomy; both became feature films.

Merv Griffin was an American television host, singer and business magnate. He created the game shows Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune and Click.

D.W. Griffith was one of cinema's earliest directors and producers, known for his innovations and for directing the 1915 film Birth of a Nation.

Charles Grodin is an actor, comedian and talk show host known for his roles in The Heartbreak Kid and Beethoven.

Ioan Gruffudd is a Welsh actor best known for playing Horatio Hornblower in the Emmy Award-winning A&E miniseries.

British actor Edmund Gwenn's claim to fame was his unforgettable role as Santa Claus in the classic Miracle on 34th Street.

Larry Hagman starred opposite Barbara Eden on the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie and played J.R. Ewing on the primetime drama Dallas.

In 2007, actor Jon Hamm took on his most famous character to date, playing philandering ad executive Don Draper in the American Movie Classics show Mad Men.

Irish actor Richard Harris is best known for his performances as King Arthur in Broadway's Camelot and Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films.

Rex Harrison was a Tony- and an Oscar-winning English actor known for his film and stage performances. His most famous role is that of Henry Higgins in the film musical My Fair Lady.

Steven Hill is a Jewish-American actor known for his roles in Mission Impossible and on Law & Order.

On the big screen, actor Ciaran Hinds is best known for his work in period dramas. He made his debut as one of the medieval knights in 1981’s Excalibur.

Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has gained recognition for his work in a series of successful films including Capote and Doubt.