Stephen Kunken

Stephen Michael Kunken, born April 30, 1971, is an American actor raised in Upper Brookville, New York, on Long Island, where his father practiced dentistry and his mother worked as a grade school teacher. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Tufts University in 1993 before enrolling in the Juilliard School's Graduate Acting program as a member of Drama Division Group 26, completing the program in 1997. During his time at Juilliard, he was awarded both the John Houseman Prize and the Pearl and Rolands Grant. His classmates in the program included David Denman and Alan Tudyk.

Kunken's Broadway career spans from 2000 to 2018 and encompasses seven productions. His earliest Broadway credit was a replacement role in David Auburn's Proof in 2002, followed by Festen in 2006. In 2007 he appeared in two productions: Tom Stoppard's Rock 'n' Roll and Frost/Nixon, the latter earning him nominations from the Outer Critics Circle for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play and from the Drama League. He portrayed David Halberstam in The Columnist in 2012 and appeared opposite Kathleen Turner in High in 2011. His most recognized stage work came in Lucy Prebble's Enron, in which he played CFO Andrew Fastow, a performance that earned him a 2010 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He also appeared in Dear Evan Hansen during his Broadway tenure.

His off-Broadway work has been extensive. He played the Stage Manager in the David Cromer-directed revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town at the Barrow Street Theatre, joining the production as a replacement on January 5, 2010. At the Public Theater, he appeared in The Story in 2003, Henry VIII in 1997, and A Dybbuk in 1997. In 2013, he took on the title role of Nikolai Nabokov in Lincoln Center Theater's production of Richard Nelson's Nikolai and the Others, and that same year at the Public he played Tim Andrews in Richard Nelson's Apple Plays cycle, which included That Hopey Changey Thing, Sweet and Sad, and Regular Singing. Additional off-Broadway credits include Theresa Rebeck's Our House at Playwrights Horizons in 2009, Kate Fodor's RX at Primary Stages in 2012, Fabulation at Playwrights Horizons in 2004, Courtney Baron's A Very Common Procedure at Manhattan Class Company in 2007, David Auburn's Journals of Mihail Sebastian with the Keen Company in 2004, and Misalliance at the Roundabout Theatre Company in 1997. His work in A Very Common Procedure earned him a Drama League Award nomination. Regionally, he appeared at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Quartermaine's Terms, True West, and Three Sisters, in which he played Solyony, all in 2008 and 2009, and he played Doc in Mister Roberts at the Kennedy Center in 2005. In 2025, he played lawyer Don Pearlman in Kyoto at the @sohoplace theatre in London.

On television, Kunken is recognized for his recurring roles as Ari Spyros on Showtime's Billions and as Commander Putnam on Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. His additional television credits include The Sopranos, The Good Wife, Blue Bloods, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU, Unforgettable, Gossip Girl, The Unusuals, New Amsterdam, Spin City, The Affair, and the television movies Far East and Mary and Rhoda. His film work includes The Wolf of Wall Street, Still Alice, Café Society, Taking Woodstock, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, All Good Things, A Birder's Guide to Everything, Price Check, The Bay, The Girl in the Park, Light and the Sufferer, and Bamboozled.

Kunken married stage director Jenn Thompson in 2005. The couple live in Brooklyn, New York, with their daughter, Naomi, whom they adopted from Ethiopia.