Billy Magnussen

Billy Magnussen is an American actor born on April 20, 1985, in Woodhaven, Queens, New York City, to Daina, an aerobics instructor, and Greg Magnussen, a professional bodybuilder and kickboxer. He has two younger brothers and is of Norwegian and Lithuanian descent. Magnussen spent his early childhood in the Woodhaven Boulevard area of Queens before relocating with his family to Cumming, Georgia, at age ten. He graduated from South Forsyth High School in 2003 and subsequently earned a degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Magnussen made his Broadway debut in 2007 in The Ritz, which starred Rosie Perez. His next Broadway credit came with Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, in which he was cast alongside David Hyde Pierce and Sigourney Weaver. The production originated at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, before transferring to Lincoln Center and ultimately to the John Golden Theatre on Broadway, where it received six Tony Award nominations. Magnussen earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his portrayal of Spike. In 2014, he appeared off-Broadway at the Second Stage Theater in Sex with Strangers, opposite Anna Gunn, in a production directed by David Schwimmer.

His film work spans more than a decade and across a range of genres. Early credits include Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet, Happy Tears, and the 2010 release Twelve, in which he played Claude. In 2011, he portrayed Neil Thomas, a World War II hero, in the CBS television film The Lost Valentine, based on James Michael Pratt's novel of the same name, and also appeared in Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress as Thor. He starred in the independent feature Surviving Family in 2012. Magnussen took on a prominent role as Rapunzel's Prince in Rob Marshall's Into the Woods in 2014, and in 2016 appeared in The Great Gilly Hopkins opposite Kathy Bates, playing Ellis, a social worker whose role had originally been written as female in the source novel and stage play. That same year he appeared in Birth of the Dragon. In 2018 he co-starred in Game Night, and in 2019 he played the newly created character Prince Anders in Disney's live-action Aladdin, directed by Guy Ritchie. In the twenty-fifth James Bond film, No Time to Die, he portrayed CIA officer Logan Ash. His 2021 film appearances included The Many Saints of Newark. He played Rey "The King" Kingston in Spy Kids: Armageddon in 2023 and took on the role of Pleakley in the live-action adaptation of Lilo & Stitch in 2025, marking a return to Disney. In 2025 he also starred in the lead role of Violent Ends.

Magnussen's television career has been equally active. He joined the cast of the CBS soap opera As the World Turns on January 29, 2008, taking over the role of Casey Hughes. He guest-starred on Boardwalk Empire as Roger McAlister, Gillian Darmody's ill-fated lover, and also served as the stand-in for Jimmy Darmody's corpse. Additional guest appearances include Law & Order in the nineteenth-season episode "Sweetie," Law & Order: Criminal Intent in the tenth-season episode "Icarus," The CW's The Beautiful Life: TBL, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Leftovers, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, where he played Russ Snyder in 2017. He appeared in four episodes of The Divide and played Kato Kaelin in the first season of American Crime Story, centered on the O. J. Simpson murder trial. In 2018, he starred as high school teacher Joshua "Nick" Sullivan in the first season of Tell Me a Story. Supporting television roles followed in Get Shorty in 2017 and Maniac in 2018. In 2021, Magnussen starred in the HBO Max science fiction series Made for Love.

Outside of acting, Magnussen has been involved in music. He served as bass player and contributing songwriter for the New York City-based rock band The Dash and plays guitar in another New York City-based band, Reserved for Rondee.