Oliver Platt
Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960[1]) is an American actor known for his work on stage and screen. He has been nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award.
Oliver Platt
January 12, 1960
American
Actor
1985–present
3
- Nicholas Platt (father)
Adam Platt (brother)
Platt made his acting debut in the 1988 film Married to the Mob. He gained prominence for his roles in The Impostors (1998), Pieces of April (2003), The Ice Harvest (2005), Casanova (2005), Frost/Nixon (2008), and Please Give (2010). His other notable roles include Working Girl (1988), Flatliners (1990), Beethoven (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993), A Time to Kill (1996), Bulworth, Dr. Dolittle (both 1998), Ready To Rumble (2000), Kinsey (2004), 2012 (2009), Love & Other Drugs (2010), X-Men: First Class (2011), Ginger and Rosa (2013), and Rules Don't Apply (2016).
Platt is known for his recurring roles in television series such as The Big C, Fargo, Chicago Med and The Good Wife. He received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his roles in The West Wing in 2001, Huff in 2005 and 2006, and Nip/Tuck in 2008. He portrayed George Steinbrenner in the series The Bronx Is Burning (2007). He is also known for his recurring role as Uncle Jimmy in the Hulu series The Bear (2022–present).
Platt made his Broadway debut in the Conor McPherson play Shining City (2006) for which he earned a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination. He returned to Broadway portraying Nathan Detroit in the 2009 revival of the Frank Loesser musical Guys and Dolls.
Family and early life[edit]
Family[edit]
Platt was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada,[2] to American parents Sheila Maynard, a clinical social worker, and Nicholas Platt, a career diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Zambia, and the Philippines.[3][4] His older brother, Adam Platt, is a New York magazine restaurant critic. They returned to the United States when Platt was three months old.[5]
Platt's paternal great-grandfather was artist and architect Charles A. Platt,[6] and his maternal great-grandparents were equestrian Arthur Scott Burden (of the industrialist Burden family) and socialite Cynthia Roche.[7] Platt is also a great-great-grandson of General Robert Shaw Oliver (through his mother).[8]
Platt's paternal great great-grandfather was diplomat and lawyer Joseph Hodges Choate. Choate was the most successful lawyer in New York City during the Gilded Age and was later appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom by President William McKinley. His brother William Gardner Choate, who was also a prominent lawyer and federal judge, created Choate Rosemary Hall.[9]
Early life[edit]
Because of his father's career as a foreign service officer, much of Platt's childhood was spent in Asia and Washington, D.C.[10] Platt attended twelve different schools, including the American School in Japan, and has said "Even now I find myself envying people who have neighborhoods and roots."[10] Platt's family made frequent trips back to Washington, where they held Redskins season tickets.[11] Platt is also a fan of the Boston Red Sox.[11]
When he was nine years old, Platt and his family visited the Kennedy Center in Washington, where he watched a performance that helped inspire his acting career.[4] "One of the performances that really made me want to be an actor started out with this probably 20-minute rambling, drunken monologue by this bum. And it was a young Morgan Freeman. I'll never forget it. This guy was just so riveting. He stood there on stage alone before the curtain went up, and he held this audience utterly rapt. Including myself, obviously."[4] According to Platt, drama departments gave his childhood some stability, "It was something of a survival mechanism, in that it gave me a little subculture to plug into wherever I ended up. Kids need that. I certainly did."[10]
Education[edit]
Platt attended a progressive boarding school named Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale, Colorado.[12]
Platt majored in drama at Tufts University, where he met and became close friends with Hank Azaria.[13][14][15] He spent three years working in theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, which he said had a "wealth of serious amateur theatre at that time…I played many roles, and it was the best training I could have had."[16] Platt travelled with Shakespeare and Company, based in Lenox, Massachusetts, touring schools to earn his Equity card, before moving to New York.[16] Platt's early career involved Off-Broadway and regional theatre, and he appeared onstage with the New York Shakespeare Festival, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club and other companies across many genres.[16] He obtained an agent while working at Manhattan Punch Line Theatre, and met actor Bill Murray at his cousin's Christmas party.[16] Murray attended Platt's show and recommended Platt to director Jonathan Demme, who cast him in Married to the Mob in 1988.[16] Platt attributes his breakthrough to appearing at the Punch Line Theater.[16]
Personal life[edit]
Platt married Mary Camilla Bonsal Campbell on September 12, 1992, at the First Congregational Church in Kittery, Maine.[33] They have three children, born 1995, 1997, and 1999. As of 1998, Platt had an open airline ticket when filming so he could return home frequently because his family did not accompany him to filming locations.[18] In a 1999 interview, he explained that he had chosen to focus on film and television rather than theater because of his family.[34]
Platt has a home in North Haven, Maine.[35]