Peter MacNicol
| Peter MacNicol | |
|---|---|
 MacNicol at Eagle Base, November 14, 2001 | |
| Born |
April 10, 1954 Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Other names | Peter Johnson |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Spouse(s) | Martha Sue Cumming (m. 1986) |
Peter MacNicol (born April 10, 1954) is an American actor. He received a Theatre World Award for his 1981 Broadway debut in the play Crimes of the Heart. His film roles include Stingo in Sophie's Choice (1982), Janosz Poha in Ghostbusters II (1989) and David Langley in Bean (1997).
MacNicol won the 2001 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as the eccentric lawyer John Cage in the FOX comedy-drama Ally McBeal (1997–2002),. He is also known for his television roles as attorney Alan Birch in the medical drama Chicago Hope (1994–98), Tom Lennox in the sixth season of action-thriller 24 (2007), as physicist Dr. Larry Fleinhardt on the CBS crime drama Numbers (2005–10), Dr. Stark on Grey's Anatomy (2010–11), and Jeff Kane on the political satire series Veep (2016).
Early life
MacNicol was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, the youngest of five children of Barbara Jean (née Gottlich), a homemaker, and John Wilbur Johnson, a Norwegian-American corporate executive who became an Episcopal priest later in life.[1][2][3][4]
Career
MacNicol performed for two seasons from 1978 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, including in productions of Hamlet and The Pretenders. He made his New York debut in the 1980 off-Broadway play, Crimes of the Heart. The production eventually moved to Broadway in 1981, and he won the Theatre World Award. It was also during this production that a casting agent noticed him and called him in to read for his eventual role in Sophie's Choice. In 1981 he landed the starring role in his first film, Dragonslayer, opposite Sir Ralph Richardson. In 1987, he starred in the Trinity Repertory Company's original production of the stage adaptation of All the King's Men, which first appeared at the Dallas Theater Center. This adaptation was developed with the consultation of the author himself.
Among his other stage credits is the Broadway production of Black Comedy/White Lies. He has further extensive classical repertory theater background, including the New York Shakespeare Festival in which he played title roles in Richard II and Romeo and Juliet, and appeared in Twelfth Night, Rum and Coke and Found a Peanut.
On film, he played the naive Southern writer who fell in love with Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice; the museum curator Janosz Poha in Ghostbusters II and camp director Gary Granger alongside future Numbers co-star David Krumholtz in Addams Family Values. Other film credits include Housesitter and American Blue Note.
In 1994 MacNicol had a prominent role as Alan Birch for the first season and under half of the second season of Chicago Hope before departing to take on a role on another TV series, Ally McBeal, also created by Chicago Hope's creator, David E. Kelley. However, he did return for one final guest appearance in episode five of the former show's fifth season.
MacNicol is known by television viewers for his Ally McBeal performance as eccentric attorney John Cage, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2001. He also starred in the drama Numbers as physicist Dr. Larry Fleinhardt, and had a role as Tom Lennox in the sixth season of the hit FOX show 24. MacNicol reprised his role as Lennox in the film 24: Redemption. He also played a hotel receptionist in one episode of Cheers titled "Look Before You Sleep".
MacNicol has lent his voice to several comic book supervillains: Dr. Kirk Langstrom/Man-Bat in The Batman, David Clinton/Chronos in Justice League Unlimited, Professor Ivo in Young Justice, Dr. Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus in The Spectacular Spider-Man, X The Eliminator in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law and the Mad Hatter in the video games Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Origins, and Batman: Arkham Knight. He also voiced Firefly in G.I. Joe: Renegades.
MacNicol played Dr. Stark, a pediatric surgeon, on Grey's Anatomy.[5]
MacNicol was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding guest actor in the fifth season of Veep; however, this was rescinded after he appeared for all of ten seconds in a fifth episode of the season's ten episode run, hence disqualifying him as a part-time "guest" and joining him in the ranks of Dennis Miller and Henry Winkler whose nominations were also revoked.[6]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Dragonslayer | Galen Bradwarden | |
| 1982 | Sophie's Choice | Stingo | |
| 1986 | Heat | Cyrus Kinnick | |
| 1986 | American Blue Note | Jack Solow | |
| 1989 | Ghostbusters II | Dr. Janosz Poha | |
| 1991 | Hard Promises | Stuart | |
| 1992 | Housesitter | Marty | |
| 1993 | Addams Family Values | Gary Granger | |
| 1994 | Radioland Murders | Son Writer | |
| 1995 | Dracula: Dead and Loving It | Thomas Renfield | |
| 1996 | The Oz Kids | Ork | |
| 1997 | Bean | David Langley | |
| 1998 | The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue | Narrator | |
| 1999 | Baby Geniuses | Dan Bobbins | |
| 2001 | Recess: School's Out | Fenwick | |
| 2002 | Balto II: Wolf Quest | Muru (voice) | |
| 2004 | Breakin' All the Rules | Philip Gascon | |
| 2005 | Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild | Troopmaster Bickle (voice) | Direct-to-video |
| 2012 | Battleship | Secretary of Defense | |
| 2013 | Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright | Dewey Ottoman (voice) |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Faerie Tale Theatre | Martin | Episode: "The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers" |
| 1990 | By Dawn's Early Light | Sedgwick | Television movie |
| 1992–1993 | The Powers That Be | Bradley Grist | 20 episodes |
| 1993 | Cheers | Mario | Episode: "Look Before You Sleep" |
| 1994 | Tales from the Crypt | Austin Haggard | Episode: "Let the Punishment Fit the Crime" |
| 1994–1998 | Chicago Hope | Alan Birch | 31 episodes Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (1995–96) |
| 1997–2002 | Ally McBeal | John Cage | 103 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (2001) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1998) Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Comedy Series (1999) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (1999-2000) Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Television Series (2002) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2001–02) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series (1999-2001) Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (1998, 2000) |
| 1999 | The Angry Beavers | Kid Friendly | Episode: "The Legend of Kid Friendly" |
| 2000 | The Wild Thornberrys | Raju, Monkey | Episode: "Monkey See, Monkey Don't" |
| 2000 | Buzz Lightyear of Star Command | Major | 2 episodes |
| 2003–2007 | Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law | Various | 14 episodes |
| 2004–2005 | Danny Phantom | Sidney Poindexter | 2 episodes |
| 2004–2008 | The Batman | Dr. Kirk Langstrom | 3 episodes |
| 2005 | Justice League Unlimited | Chronos | 2 episodes |
| 2005–2010 | Numbers | Dr. Larry Fleinhardt | 94 episodes |
| 2006 | Boston Legal | Dr. Sydney Field | Episode: "Race Ipsa" |
| 2007 | 24 | Tom Lennox | 24 episodes |
| 2008 | 24: Redemption | Tom Lennox | Television film Short role |
| 2008–2009 | The Spectacular Spider-Man | Doctor Octopus | 12 episodes |
| 2010 | Ben 10: Ultimate Alien | Various | 2 episodes |
| 2010–2011 | Grey's Anatomy | Dr. Robert Stark | 7 episodes |
| 2011 | Young Justice | Professor Ivo | 2 episodes |
| 2011 | G.I. Joe: Renegades | Firefly | Episode: "Homecoming Part 2" |
| 2011 | Fairly Legal | Judge Smollet | Episode: "Coming Home" |
| 2012 | Game Change | Rick Davis | Television movie |
| 2013 | Necessary Roughness | Dr. Gunner | 3 episodes |
| 2013–2015 | Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | Professor Elliot Randolph | 2 episodes |
| 2014 | The Mindy Project | Rabbi David Adler | Episode: "An Officer and a Gynecologist" |
| 2014 | Star Wars Rebels | Tseebo | 2 episodes |
| 2015 | CSI: Cyber | Simon Sifter | Main cast |
| 2016 | Veep | Jeff Kane | 5 episodes Primetime Emmy Award nomination revoked due to rule technicality[7] |
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law | X the Eliminator | |
| 2011 | Batman: Arkham City | Mad Hatter | |
| 2013 | Batman: Arkham Origins | Mad Hatter | |
| 2015 | Batman: Arkham Knight | Mad Hatter | |
References
- ↑ "Film Reference bio". Filmreference.com. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
- ↑ http://www.petermacnicolonline.com/character98.html
- ↑ http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20120778,00.html
- ↑
- ↑ "Exclusive: Peter MacNicol Joins Grey's Anatomy". TVGuide.com. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
- ↑ Dessem, Matthew (July 21, 2016). "Veep's Peter MacNicol Has His Emmy Nomination Revoked Over Eligibility Issue". Slate.
- ↑ A few seconds of screen time cost 'Veep' actor Peter MacNicol an Emmy nomination