Justin Theroux

Justin Theroux is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer born on August 10, 1971, in Washington, D.C. His mother, Phyllis Grissim Theroux, is an essayist and author, while his father, Eugene Albert Theroux, is a lawyer at Baker & McKenzie in Washington and is of half French-Canadian and half Italian descent. Through his mother, Theroux is a great-great-grandson of financier and railroad magnate H. B. Hollins and of music critic and author Gustav Kobbé. He is the nephew of travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux, novelist and poet Alexander Theroux, author Peter Theroux, and novelist and educator Joseph Theroux, and the cousin of British journalists and documentary filmmakers Louis and Marcel Theroux.

Theroux attended Lafayette Elementary School, Annunciation School, and the Field School before enrolling at the Buxton School in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he began acting. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in visual arts and drama from Bennington College in 1993. His Broadway career includes a 1997 appearance in The Three Sisters, and he has also performed in numerous off-Broadway productions. The external biography additionally notes a Broadway credit in Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme.

Theroux made his film debut in 1996 in Mary Harron's I Shot Andy Warhol. The following year he appeared in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, and in 2000 he took a role in American Psycho. His collaborations with director David Lynch on the surrealist films Mulholland Drive (2001) and Inland Empire (2006) brought him considerable recognition. Additional film credits include Zoolander (2001), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Miami Vice (2006), The Girl on the Train (2016), Bumblebee (2018), and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024). In 2017 he voiced the Evil Lord Garmadon in The Lego Ninjago Movie, and in 2019 he voiced Tramp in the Disney+ live-action remake of Lady and the Tramp. He also appeared in two films that premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival alongside his directorial debut: Broken English and The Ten, in which he played Jesus Christ alongside Gretchen Mol.

As a screenwriter, Theroux co-wrote the Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder (2008), a project on which he also appeared in the behind-the-scenes mockumentary Tropic Thunder: Rain of Madness. His work on that film led actor Robert Downey Jr. to recommend him to director Jon Favreau, resulting in Theroux writing the screenplay for Iron Man 2 (2010). He also wrote the screenplay for Rock of Ages (2012) and co-wrote Zoolander 2 (2016), reprising his role as Evil DJ in that film. Theroux made his directorial debut with the romantic comedy Dedication, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, with the band Deerhoof scoring the film at his request.

On television, Theroux played a recurring role as Joe in Six Feet Under during its third and fourth seasons and appeared in episodes of Alias, Ally McBeal, Sex and the City, and The District. In 2008 he portrayed John Hancock in the HBO miniseries John Adams, and in 2009 he joined the voice cast of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and played Justin in Parks and Recreation. His most prominent television role came with the HBO mystery drama series The Leftovers (2014–2017), in which he starred as Kevin Garvey across all three seasons, earning a nomination for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series. In 2018 he played savant neurochemist Dr. James Mantleray in the Netflix miniseries Maniac opposite Emma Stone and Jonah Hill. In 2019 he produced the ABC television event Live in Front of a Studio Audience alongside Norman Lear, Jimmy Kimmel, and Will Ferrell, receiving a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) for that work. From 2021 to 2023 he starred as Allie Fox in the Apple TV+ series The Mosquito Coast, an adaptation of the 1981 novel by his uncle Paul Theroux, on which he also served as executive producer. Beginning with Season 2 of the Amazon Prime Video adaptation of Fallout in 2025, Theroux took on the role of Robert Edwin House, a character originally voiced by René Auberjonois in Fallout: New Vegas and briefly portrayed by Rafi Silver in Season 1 of the adaptation.

In 2003 Theroux appeared in a music video for the British band Muse for their song "Hysteria." Regarding his personal life, he was in a relationship with stylist and costume designer Heidi Bivens from 1997 until 2011. He began dating actress Jennifer Aniston in 2011, became engaged to her in August 2012, and married her on August 5, 2015. The two announced their separation in February 2018. In August 2024 Theroux became engaged to actress Nicole Brydon Bloom; the couple married in March 2025 and are expecting their first child.