Justin Kirk

Justin Kirk is an American actor born on May 28, 1969, in Salem, Oregon, who has worked across stage, television, and film. His father was of Danish and English ancestry, and his mother was of Russian-Jewish descent. Kirk grew up in Union, Washington, attending a grade school on a Native American reservation before his family relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota, when he was thirteen. In Minneapolis he attended high school and performed at Children's Theatre Company. After graduating, he moved to New York City, where he played guitar in several bands in the early 1990s, most notably The Dimestore Darlings, and completed a two-year conservatory acting program at Circle in the Square Theatre School.

Kirk launched his stage career in off-Broadway productions including The Applicant, Shardston, Loose Ends, Thanksgiving, and Lovequest Live. His Broadway debut came in Frank Gilroy's Any Given Day at the Longacre Theatre. Between 1994 and 1995, he played Bobby Brahms in Terrence McNally's Love! Valour! Compassion!, a production that ran both on and off-Broadway. He subsequently starred as Stephen Hoffman in Jon Marans's two-character play Old Wicked Songs, which was staged at New York's Promenade Theatre and Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse. In 2012, Kirk appeared on Broadway in Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities, taking over the role of Trip Wyeth from Thomas Sadoski. His Broadway career spans from 1993 to 2011, with the Other Desert Cities credit extending into 2012.

On television, Kirk made his debut in the short-lived CBS drama New York News. From 1999 to 2001, he starred in the WB comedy-drama series Jack & Jill. His most prominent early television work came in 2003, when he portrayed Prior Walter in the HBO miniseries Angels in America, earning a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. He went on to play Andy Botwin in the Showtime dark comedy series Weeds from 2005 to 2012. In 2012, he was cast as the lead in the NBC sitcom Animal Practice, which was canceled after nine episodes. He appeared in the WGN period drama Manhattan and the FX/FXX series You're the Worst in 2015, and joined the cast of Showtime's Kidding in 2018. Beginning in 2020, he played Hamilton Burger in HBO's Perry Mason, and in 2021 he appeared in Succession as Congressman Jeryd Mencken.

Kirk's screen work also includes a photograph appearance in Mike Nichols's 1994 film Wolf, for which he credited costume designer Ann Roth. His feature film debut came in the 1997 drama Love! Valour! Compassion!, in which he recreated his stage role. Subsequent film credits include Vamps (2012), Mr. Morgan's Last Love (2013), Justice League: War (2014), Ghostbusters (2016), Molly's Game (2017), The Tribes of Palos Verdes (2017), and Vice (2018).