Sam Waterston

ActorProducer Nov 15 (age 85) Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA 1951–2026 (75 year career)

6.3 avg rating

Biography

Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor and occasional producer and director. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy on the NBC television series Law & Order. He has been nominated for multiple Golden Globe-, Screen Actors Guild-, BAFTA- and Emmy Awards, having starred in over eighty film and …

Known For

Film

Miss Sloane

George Dupont

Film

The Newsroom

Charlie Skinner

Film

Hannah and Her Sisters

David (uncredited)

Film

On the Basis of Sex

Erwin Griswold

Film

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Ben

Film

The Killing Fields

Sydney Schanberg

Film

Godless

Marshall John Cook

Film

The Six Triple Eight

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Filmography

Acting (125)

Movies (91)

Carousel

2026

The Six Triple Eight

2024

as Franklin Delano Roosevelt

7.5

A Case for Love

2024

as Self

Merchant Ivory

2024

as Self

7.7

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time

2021

as Self (voice)

6.8

The Man in the Woods

2020

as Headmaster Waldorf

4.8

Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story

2020

as Self

Jane Fonda in Five Acts

2018

as Self - (archive footage)

On the Basis of Sex

as Erwin Griswold

The Mayo Clinic

as Charlie Mayo (voice)

7.0

Dateline: Saigon

2017

as Narrator (voice)

8.0

Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators

as Narrator (voice)

Miss Sloane

as George Dupont

Anesthesia

as Prof. Walter Zarrow

5.8

And It Was Good

2015

as Judge Alexander Baas / Doctor / Gravedigger

Dean Smith

as Narrator

Please Be Normal

as Dad

The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear

2010

as Self

5.9

The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays

2006

as John Honeyman (segment "A Walk in the Woods")

Hammer and Cycle

2004

as Self - Narrator

Le Divorce

as Chester Walker

The Commission

as J. Lee Rankin

The Matthew Shepard Story

as Dennis Shepard

A House Divided

as David Dickson

The Unfinished Journey

1999

as Narrator (voice)

5.7

Law and Order: Justice

1999

as Jack McCoy

In Bad Taste

1999

as Self

8.0

Moment of Impact: Stories of the Pulitzer Prize Photographs

1999

as Self / Host / Narrator

Here Am I, Send Me: The Story of Jonathan Daniels

1999

as Narrator

Exiled

as Jack McCoy

Miracle at Midnight

as Dr. Karl Koster

Shadow Conspiracy

as The President

The Proprietor

as Harry Bancroft

Nixon

as Richard Helms

The Journey of August King

1995

as Mooney Wright

6.7

Amazing Stories: The Movie IV

1995

as (archive footage)

Serial Mom

as Eugene Sutphin

David's Mother

as John Nils

The Enemy Within

as President William Foster

5.7

Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage

1994

as Tom Wingfield (archive footage)

Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker

1994

as Daniel Chamberlain

6.2

I'll Fly Away: Then and Now

1993

as Forrest Bedford

8.0

Earth and the American Dream

as Reader (voice)

The Man in the Moon

as Matthew Trant

Mindwalk

as Jack Edwards

A Captive in the Land

1990

as Royce

5.0

Night of 100 Stars III

1990

as Self

4.0

Crimes and Misdemeanors

as Ben

Welcome Home

as Woody

Lantern Hill

as Andrew Stuart

A Walk in the Woods

as John Honeyman

Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami

as Jim Delmore

Devil's Paradise

as Jones

September

as Peter

Swimming to Cambodia

as Additional cast from 'The Killing Fields' (archive footage)

The Room Upstairs

as Travis Coles

The Fifth Missile

as Capt. Allard Renslow

4.8

Hannah and Her Sisters

1986

as David (uncredited)

7.5

Flagrant désir

1986

as Inspecteur Gerry Morrison

Just Between Friends

as Harry Crandall

Love Lives On

as Bernie

Warning Sign

as Cal Morse

Finnegan Begin Again

as Paul Broadbent

The Killing Fields

as Sydney Schanberg

The Boy Who Loved Trolls

as Ofoeti

In Defense of Kids

as Paul Wilcox

Dempsey

as Doc Kearns

Games Mother Never Taught You

1982

as David Bentells

Heaven's Gate

as Frank Canton

Hopscotch

as Jack Cutter

Friendly Fire

as C.D.B. Bryan

Sweet William

as William McClusky

Eagle's Wing

as White Bull

Interiors

as Mike

Capricorn One

as Lt. Col. Peter Willis

Sweet Revenge

as Le Clerq

Rancho Deluxe

as Cecil Colson

Journey into Fear

as Mr. Graham

The Great Gatsby

as Nick Carraway

Reflections of Murder

1974

as Michael Elliott

6.3

Much Ado About Nothing

as Benedick

The Glass Menagerie

as Tom Wingfield

Savages

as James, the Limping Man

5.1

Mahoney's Last Stand

1972

as Felix

5.4

Who Killed Mary Whats'ername?

as Alex Monte

Cover Me Babe

as Cameraman

Three

as Taylor

Generation

as Desmond

Fitzwilly

as Oliver

The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean

1966

as Andy

7.7

Rain Falls from Earth: Surviving Cambodia's Darkest Hour

as Self (voice)

Television (34)

Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Travelled

as Self

The Dropout

as George Shultz

Godless

as Marshall John Cook

7.7

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

as Self - Guest

Grace and Frankie

as Sol Bergstein

The Newsroom

as Charlie Skinner

Prohibition

as Reader (voice)

Masters of Science Fiction

The Colbert Report

Law & Order: Trial by Jury

2005

as Jack McCoy

8.1

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

1999

as Jack McCoy

7.9

Family Guy

1999

as Bruce Kaplan (voice)

7.4

The View

1997

as Self

4.3

Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery

1997

as Thomas Jefferson (voice)

7.5

Thomas Jefferson

1997

as Thomas Jefferson (voice)

8.0

Time Life's Lost Civilizations

1995

as Narrator

6.0

Homicide: Life on the Street

as Jack McCoy

HBO First Look

I'll Fly Away

as Forrest Bedford

Law & Order

as Jack McCoy

Law & Order

as Jack McCoy

The Civil War

as Abraham Lincoln

Tales from the Crypt

as G.G. Devoe (segment "As Ye Sow")

The Nightmare Years

as Bill Shirer

Lincoln

as Abraham Lincoln

Amazing Stories

as Jordan Manmouth

Jeopardy!

as Self

Q.E.D.

Oppenheimer

as Robert Oppenheimer

6.5

Saturday Night Live

1975

as Self - Cameo (uncredited)

7.0

People's Choice Awards

as Self - Presenter

Dr. Kildare

as Mark

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

as Travis Coles

8.6

Crew (1)

Movies (1)

The Journey of August King

1995

Producer

6.7