Christopher Denham is an American actor, screenwriter and director. He is perhaps best known for supporting roles in '' Argo'', '' Being the Ricardos'', ''

Shutter Island ''Shutter Island'' is a novel by American writer Dennis Lehane, published by HarperCollins in April 2003. It is about a U.S. Marshal who goes to an isolated hospital for the criminally insane to investigate the disappearance of a patient who is ...

'' and his role in the Sundance Film Festival cult phenomenon, ''

Sound of My Voice ''Sound of My Voice'' is a 2011 American psychological thriller film directed by Zal Batmanglij in his feature directorial debut and starring Christopher Denham, Nicole Vicius and Brit Marling. The plot focuses on two documentary filmmakers wh ...

'', as well as the television series '' Billions'', '' Shining Girls'', opposite Elisabeth Moss and Amazon Prime's ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island societ ...

'', created by

Gillian Flynn Gillian Schieber Flynn (; born February 24, 1971) is an American author, screenwriter, and producer. She is known for writing the thriller and mystery novels, ''Sharp Objects'' (2006), '' Dark Places'' (2009), and '' Gone Girl'' (2012), which are ...

Early life

Denham grew up on the south side of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Theatrical career

Denham made his

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

debut opposite Danny Glover in the 2003 revival of '' "Master Harold"...and the Boys''. In 2005, Denham originated the role of Matt in the

Steppenwolf Theater Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Unitarian church on Half Day Road in Deerfield, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on H ...

production of

Adam Rapp Adam Rapp (born June 15, 1968) is an American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, musician and film director. His play '' Red Light Winter'' was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2006. Early life Rapp was born in Chicago to Mary Lee (née Baird; di ...

's '' Red Light Winter''. The production moved to New York where Denham won Outstanding Lead Actor at the 2006

Lucille Lortel Awards The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres ...

. His other Broadway credits include the title role in Martin McDonagh's ''

The Lieutenant of Inishmore ''The Lieutenant of Inishmore'' is a black comedy by Martin McDonagh, in which the 'mad' leader of an Irish National Liberation Army splinter group discovers that his cat has been killed. It has been produced twice in the West End and on Bro ...

'' and

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...

's '' China Doll,'' opposite Al Pacino. Off-Broadway, Denham appeared at Playwright's Horizons in Adam Rapp's ''Kindness'' opposite Katherine Waterston, Charles Mee's ''Wintertime'' at Second Stage, and Steven Levenson's ''The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin,'' opposite David Morse at Roundabout Theatre Company. Regionally, Denham has worked with the Illinois Shakespeare Festival, New York Stage and Film and the Sundance Lab for Directors and Screenwriters.

Film and television career

Denham's first major film role was as

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

paramilitary operations officer

Mike Vickers Michael Graham Vickers (born 18 April 1940) is an English musician who came to prominence as the guitarist, flautist, and saxophonist with the 1960s band Manfred Mann. He was born in Staines-upon-Thames, Surrey. At the age of seven, his famil ...

in '' Charlie Wilson's War,'' directed by Mike Nichols. He starred opposite Brit Marling in the acclaimed psychological thriller ''

'' which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His breakout film role was as Mark Lijek, one of the six escaped hostages rescued by

Tony Mendez Antonio Joseph Mendez (November 15, 1940 – January 19, 2019) was an American technical operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who specialized in support of clandestine and covert CIA operations. He wrote four memoirs ab ...

in '' Argo''. Denham later portrayed scientist Jim Meeks on the Emmy-nominated ''

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

''. In 2017, he joined the cast of '' Billions'' as attorney Oliver Dake. He appeared as Sheriff Peter Trask in Craig Zobel's ''One Dollar,'' which premiered on CBS All Access. In 2020, he was a series regular in Gillian Flynn's ''

'' as Arby. Denham has collaborated with legendary directors Martin Scorsese (''Shutter Island''), Mike Nichols (''Charlie Wilson's War''), Barry Levinson (''The Bay''), Tony Gilroy (''Duplicity''), Jodie Foster (''Money Monster'') and Aaron Sorkin (''Being The Ricardos''). Other TV credits include: ''Rubicon, Person of Interest, The Good Wife, Prodigal Son, Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU,'' and ''The Following.'' Denham wrote and directed the 2008 horror film ''

Home Movie A home movie is a short amateur film or video typically made just to preserve a visual record of family activities, a vacation, or a special event, and intended for viewing at home by family and friends. Originally, home movies were made on ph ...

'' (IFC Films) which premiered at Toronto After Dark and won the Citizen Kane Award for up-and-coming director at the Sitges Film Festival. He also wrote and directed the critically acclaimed thriller, '' Preservation,'' starring Wrenn Schmidt,

Pablo Schreiber Pablo Tell Schreiber (born April 26, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is best known for his stage work and for portraying Nick Sobotka on ''The Wire'' (2003), William Lewis on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2013–2014), Mad S ...

and

Aaron Staton Aaron Staton (born August 10, 1980) is an American actor. He played Ken Cosgrove on the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015) and voiced Cole Phelps in the video game '' L.A. Noire'' (2011), for which he was nominated for a BAFTA for Best ...

. which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival and was distributed by The Orchard. Denham has been announced to appear in

Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5&nb ...

’s film, '' Oppenheimer'', for Universal Pictures, which is currently in production. He will also appear in HBO's '' The Gilded Age'', created by Julian Fellowes.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Denham, Christopher American male film actors American male stage actors American male television actors American film directors American film producers American male screenwriters Living people Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners 1980 births