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David Russell Strathairn (born on January 26 1949) is an Academy Award-nominated American film and television actor.

Early life

Strathairn was born in San Francisco, California of Scottish and Hawaiian descent. He attended Redwood High School in Larkspur, California and then graduated from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1970. Reportedly, he attended the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in Venice, Florida and worked as a clown in a traveling circus.

Film career

Some of his notable roles include his portrayals of the title character in Harrison's Flowers (2000), the wisecracking blind techie in Sneakers (1992), Joe St. George in Dolores Claiborne (1995), Theseus in the 1999 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and corrupt baseball player Eddie Cicotte in 1988's Eight Men Out. He also co-starred in Twisted as Ashley Judd's psychiatrist, in The River Wild as Meryl Streep's husband, as Tom Cruise's jailbird brother in The Firm, and as Kim Basinger's pimp in L.A. Confidential.

He works frequently with director John Sayles including his film debut Return of the Secaucus 7, Passion Fish, Limbo, and City of Hope, for which Strathairn won the Independent Spirit Award.

Strathairn's television work has included a wide range of roles, including Moss, the bookselling nebbish on the critically acclaimed The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd; Captain Keller, the father of Helen in the 2000 remake of The Miracle Worker; and a far-out (both figuratively and literally) televangelist in "Paradise." Recently, Strathairn had a recurring role on the hit TV drama The Sopranos.

In 2005, he appeared in the leading role in Good Night, and Good Luck., a theatrical biopic in which he portrayed the famed CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow in his clash with Senator Joseph McCarthy over his Communist "witch hunt" in the 1950s. Strathairn received Best Actor Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and Academy Award nominations for his performance in the film. In 2006, during the midterm election campaign, he reprised his role as Murrow in an attack ad for Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democratic challenger in New York's 20th congressional district. Strathairn is a resident of the 20th.

His next films include Hereafter, set in the aftermath of the 2004 Sumatran tsunami. Michael Patwin is set to direct, and Ben Katz and Chris Bender are producing; and We Are...Marshall, about the resurrection of Marshall University's football program after the 1970 plane crash that killed most of the team. According to Variety magazine, Strathairn will play the lead role in Paramount Pictures' The Spiderwick Chronicles and will then shoot for the third installment of the Bourne Identity franchise.[1]

External links

• David Strathairn Online - latest news, bio, credits, photos, multimedia, and more
• Gillibrand Attack Ad - from Kristen Gillibrand's campaign website

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