James Cromwell

James Oliver Cromwell, born January 27, 1940, in Los Angeles, California, is an American actor whose career spans stage, film, and television. The son of actress Kay Johnson and actor-director John Cromwell, who was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, he was raised in Manhattan, New York City after his parents divorced in 1946. He is of English, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Cromwell graduated from The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania in 1958, then attended Middlebury College before earning a B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University in 1964. He received his acting training at HB Studio.

Cromwell's Broadway career extended from 1970 to 2020 and included appearances in Hamlet, Othello, and Grand Horizons. His stage work ran alongside a prolific screen career that began with a 1974 appearance on The Rockford Files, in which he played Terry, a tennis instructor. Shortly after, he took on a recurring role as Stretch Cunningham on All in the Family. In 1975, he led the short-lived series Hot l Baltimore as Bill Lewis and appeared on M*A*S*H as Captain Leo Bardonaro. His film debut came in 1976 with Neil Simon's Murder by Death. Throughout the 1980s he maintained steady television work while taking supporting film roles in Tank, Revenge of the Nerds, and Oh, God! You Devil, all released in 1984.

His first Star Trek appearance came in 1990 in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season three episode "The Hunted," followed by the 1993 episode "Birthright, Part 1" as Jaglom Shrek. He also appeared in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Starship Down" as Hanok before playing Dr. Zefram Cochrane in Star Trek: First Contact in 1996, a role he reprised in the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot episode "Broken Bow" and the 2022 Star Trek: Lower Decks season three premiere, "Grounded."

Cromwell's portrayal of farmer Arthur Hoggett in Babe (1995) earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and he reprised the role in Babe: Pig in the City (1998). A sustained run of notable film work followed, encompassing Eraser (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), Deep Impact (1998), The Green Mile (1999), Space Cowboys (2000), and The Longest Yard (2005). He voiced the Colonel in DreamWorks' Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) and provided the voice of Professor Robert Callaghan/Yokai in Disney's Big Hero 6 (2014). Later film credits include The Queen (2006), in which he played Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, W. (2008) as George H. W. Bush, Secretariat (2010) as horse owner Ogden Phipps, The Artist (2011), Still Mine (2012), The Promise (2016), Marshall (2017), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018), and Emperor (2020).

On television, Cromwell's role as William Randolph Hearst in RKO 281 (1999) earned him an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Movie. A subsequent nomination followed for his recurring role as Bishop Lionel Stewart on ER, in which he guest-starred in four episodes in 2001. From 2003 to 2005, he played George Sibley in Six Feet Under, a performance that brought him a third Emmy nomination in 2003 and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations alongside the ensemble cast in 2005 and 2006. He appeared in the HBO miniseries Angels in America in 2003 and guest-starred as former president D. Wire Newman in a 2004 episode of The West Wing. In October 2007, he played James Tyrone Sr. in the Druid Theatre Company's production of Long Day's Journey into Night at the Gaiety in Dublin as part of the Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival's 50th Anniversary. He received the King Vidor Memorial Award from the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival that same year. His role as Phillip Bauer in the sixth season of 24 and appearances in Boardwalk Empire from 2012 to 2013 further extended his television presence. Cromwell won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his work in American Horror Story: Asylum (2012–2013). He starred in The Young Pope in 2016 alongside Jude Law and Diane Keaton, appeared in both Counterpart (2018–2019) and Succession (2018–2023), the latter earning him three Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Guest Actor, and appeared in Sugar in 2024.

In 2015, Cromwell executive produced the documentary Imminent Threat, which examines the War on Terror's impact on civil liberties. He also executive produced the 2021 psychedelic comedy Mondo Hollywoodland, directed by Janek Ambros, who had also directed Imminent Threat. In 2020, he starred in Operation Buffalo, an Australian television comedy-drama about atomic bomb tests in outback Australia, which aired on ABC beginning May 31, 2020.

Cromwell is a committed activist on issues including animal rights and environmentalism. He became a vegetarian in 1974 after visiting a stockyard in Texas and became vegan while filming Babe in 1995. He has been arrested multiple times at protests and served a prison sentence after refusing to pay a fine following a 2015 sit-in protest at a power plant.