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John Malkovich

Acting

Born December 9, 1953 · Christopher, Illinois, USA

Also known as John Gavin Malkovich

Biography

John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He has received several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. Malkovich started his career as a charter member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago in 1976. He moved to New York City, acting in a Steppenwolf production of the Sam Shepard play True West (1980). He made his Broadway debut as Biff in the revival of the Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman (1984). He directed the Harold Pinter play The Caretaker(1986) and acted in Lanford Wilson's Burn This(1987). Malkovich has received two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor nominations for his performances in Places in the Heart (1984) and In the Line of Fire (1993). Other films include The Killing Fields (1984), Empire of the Sun (1987), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Of Mice and Men (1992), Con Air (1997), Rounders (1998), Being John Malkovich (1999), Shadow of the Vampire (2000), Ripley's Game (2002), Johnny English (2003), Burn After Reading (2008), and Red (2010). He has also produced films such as Ghost World (2001), Juno (2007), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). For his work on television, he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for Death of a Salesman (1985). His other Emmy-nominated roles were for portraying Herman J. Mankiewicz in RKO 281 (1999) and Charles Talleyrand in Napoléon (2002). Other television roles include  Crossbones (2014), Billions (2018–19), The New Pope (2020), and Space Force (2020–2022).

Awards & recognition

  • Donostia Award · 1998
  • Primetime Emmy AwardOutstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie · 1986
  • Theatre World Award · 1983
  • Clarence Derwent Awards
  • Order of Danica Hrvatska
Show all 8 awards →
  • Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class
  • Academy AwardBest Supporting Actor · 1994 · nominated
  • Academy AwardBest Supporting Actor · 1985 · nominated

Filmography50+ titles

Ripley

2024as Reeves Minot

Which Way Home

2009Executive Producer

Billions

2016as Grigor Andolov

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

2012Producer

The New Pope

2020as Giovanni Paolo III / Sir John Brannox

Changeling

2008as Rev. Gustav Briegleb

The New Look

2024as Lucien Lelong

Empire of the Sun

1987as Basie

The Killing Fields

1984as Al Rockoff

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda

2017as Port (archive footage)

Secretariat

2010as Lucien Laurin

Being John Malkovich

1999as John Horatio Malkovich

Side by Side

2012as Self

Adaptation.

2002as John Malkovich (uncredited)

Of Mice and Men

1992as Lennie Small

American Masters

1986as Self

The Graham Norton Show

2007as Self

Dangerous Liaisons

1988as Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont

Places in the Heart

1984as Mr. Will

Juno

2007Producer

Ghost World

2001Producer

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile

2019as Judge Edward D. Cowart

Rounders

1998as Teddy KGB

In the Line of Fire

1993as Mitch Leary

Deepwater Horizon

2016as Donald Vidrine

Alive

1993as Carlitos Páez / Narrator (uncredited)

Death of a Salesman

1985as Biff Loman

Saturday Night Live

1975as Self - Host

Ten Year Old Tom

2021as Mr. B (voice)

Bird Box

2018as Douglas

Demolition

2015Producer

Deadly Code

2013as Grandfather Kuzya

Napoléon

2002as Charles de Talleyrand

I'm Going Home

2001as John Crawford

Con Air

1997as Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom

RED

2010as Marvin Boggs

Burn After Reading

2008as Osborne Cox

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

2005as Humma Kavula

Shadow of the Vampire

2000as F. W. Murnau

The Man in the Iron Mask

1998as Athos

Shadows and Fog

1991as Clown

Space Force

2020as Dr. Adrian Mallory

The ABC Murders

2018as Hercule Poirot

Penguins of Madagascar

2014as Dave (voice)

RED 2

2013as Marvin Boggs

Warm Bodies

2013as Colonel Grigio

RKO 281

1999as Herman Mankiewicz

The Sheltering Sky

1990as Port

Well Done!

2023as Andrew Blake

Ripley's Game

2002as Tom Ripley