William Gaither Crudup (; born July 8, 1968) is an American actor. He was nominated for an
Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for his performance in ''
Jesus' Son'' (1999). He went on to star in numerous high-profile films, including ''
Almost Famous'' (2000), ''
Big Fish'' (2003), ''
Mission: Impossible III'' (2006), ''
Watchmen
''Watchmen'' is a comic book Limited series (comics), limited series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 19 ...
'' (2009), ''
Public Enemies'' (2009), ''
The Stanford Prison Experiment'' (2015), ''
Jackie'' (2016), and ''
Alien: Covenant'' (2017), in both lead and supporting roles.
Crudup is a four-time
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
nominee, winning once for his performance in
Tom Stoppard's play ''
The Coast of Utopia'' in 2007. He has also starred in the streaming television series ''
Gypsy'' (2017), and ''
The Morning Show'' (2019–present), which earned him two
Primetime Emmy Awards
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...
and two
Critics' Choice Television Awards, and ''
Hello Tomorrow!'' (2023). In June 2023, he married British actress
Naomi Watts.
Early life
Crudup was born in
Manhasset, New York
Manhasset is an affluent Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. It is co ...
. His parents, Georgann (née Gaither) and Thomas Henry Crudup III divorced during his childhood, and later remarried, before divorcing a second time.
Crudup has spoken of his father, who died in 2005, as an "incessant gambler and hustler salesman" who continuously sought "to hit the jackpot" throughout his life.
On his father's side, he is a descendant of Congressman
Josiah Crudup of North Carolina. His maternal grandfather was William Cotter "Billy" Gaither, Jr., a well-known Florida trial lawyer, and his maternal grandmother later remarried to Episcopal bishop
James Duncan.
The middle-born of three brothers, Crudup's brothers, Tommy and Brooks, are both producers. He left New York with his family when he was about eight years old, first living in Texas, then in Florida. He graduated from
Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...
in 1986.
Crudup attended the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
, where he received an undergraduate degree, and he continued his passion for acting with the undergraduate acting company, LAB! Theatre. He also acted for UNC-STV's most popular show, General College. He was a member of the Beta chapter of
Delta Kappa Epsilon. He then studied at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
's
Tisch School of the Arts graduate acting program, where he earned a
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...
degree in 1994.
Career
Film and television
Crudup began acting in films such as 1996's ''
Sleepers'', 1997's ''
Inventing the Abbotts'', and 1998's ''
Without Limits'', where he played the role of running legend and Olympian
Steve Prefontaine. His first role in an animated feature was in 1999's English release of ''
Princess Mononoke
is a 1997 Japanese animated historical drama, historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Set in the Muromachi period of Japanese history, the film follows Ashitaka, a young Emishi prince who journeys west to cure his curs ...
'', in which he starred as Ashitaka. He then played lead guitarist Russell Hammond from Stillwater, the fictional band at the center of
Cameron Crowe's ''
Almost Famous'' (2000). In 2006's ''
The Good Shepherd,'' he played British spy Arch Cummings, a stand-in for
Kim Philby. The same year, he played a supporting role in ''
Mission: Impossible III''. In 2007, he played the leading role of Henry Roth in the film ''
Dedication''.
Crudup completed filming ''
Watchmen
''Watchmen'' is a comic book Limited series (comics), limited series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 19 ...
'' with director
Zack Snyder
Zachary Edward Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American filmmaker. He made his feature film debut in 2004 with ''Dawn of the Dead (2004 film), Dawn of the Dead'', a remake of the 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead (1978 film), of the same name ...
in Vancouver,
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
. He portrayed the superhero
Doctor Manhattan. He portrayed former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Timothy Geithner in a TV film about 2008's financial crisis, ''
Too Big to Fail
"Too big to fail" (TBTF) is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected with an economy that their failure would be disastrous to the greater e ...
'' (2011). Crudup stars in the
Apple TV+ series
''The Morning Show'', for which he won a
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...
in 2020 and 2024 and a
Critics' Choice Television Award in 2020 and 2023.
Stage

A year after graduating from Tisch, Crudup made his debut on
Broadway in the
Lincoln Center Theater
The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Operated by the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater (LCT ...
production of
Tom Stoppard's ''
Arcadia''.
Crudup received a 2002
Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play for his performance as
the title character in ''
The Elephant Man'' on Broadway, as well as a 2005 nomination for his role as Katurian in the Broadway production of ''
The Pillowman'', also starring
Jeff Goldblum, which closed on September 18, 2005. From October 2006 through May 2007, he was featured in the first two parts of ''
The Coast of Utopia'' by
Tom Stoppard at
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5  ...
, playing literary critic
Vissarion Belinsky, for which he received a 2007
Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play
The Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality supporting roles in a Broadway theatre, Broa ...
.
He starred in ''The Metal Children'', an off-Broadway play written and directed by
Adam Rapp in 2010.
In 2011, Crudup received a Tony Award nomination for Featured Actor in a Play for his role in the Broadway revival of ''Arcadia''.
In August 2013, he co-starred with
Ian McKellen and
Patrick Stewart
Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor. With a career spanning over seven decades of Patrick Stewart on stage and screen, stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Patrick Stewart, variou ...
in the
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...
play ''
No Man's Land'' as well as in ''
Waiting for Godot'' at the
Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The shows transferred to The
Cort Theatre
The James Earl Jones Theatre, originally the Cort Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 138 48th Street (Manhattan), West 48th Street, between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater ...
in New York City, where they ran in repertory until March 2014.
In November 2017, he starred in the world premiere of
David Cale's one-man play ''Harry Clarke'' at
Vineyard Theatre. It moved to the
Minetta Lane Theatre the following spring.
Other work
From 1998 to 2005, Crudup was the narrator for the U.S. television ad campaign "Priceless" for
Mastercard. In the ads, the narrator (Crudup) lists the prices of two goods or services, then lists some third, intangible benefit gained from those purchases and concludes, "priceless". He said in 2005 that appearing in the ads "changed my life", in that they gave him the financial freedom to pursue the acting work that he wanted to do.
He appeared as
Zartan in the 2009 parody video ''
The Ballad of G.I. Joe'' on the website
Funny or Die.
Personal life
From 1996 to November 2003, Crudup was in a relationship with actress
Mary-Louise Parker. She was seven months pregnant with their son,
William Atticus Parker, born in January 2004, when Crudup ended their relationship and began dating actress
Claire Danes
Claire Catherine Danes (born April 12, 1979) is an American actress. Prolific in film and television since her teens, she is the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2012, ''Time (magazine), Time'' named he ...
. Crudup and Danes separated in 2006. In 2017, Crudup began dating British actress
Naomi Watts, after the two met on the set of the Netflix drama series ''
Gypsy''. The couple married in New York City in June 2023.
In June 2024, Watts and Crudup celebrated their nuptials in a second ceremony surrounded by their family in Mexico.
Acting credits
Film
Television
Stage
Accolades
The following is a list of accolades Crudup has received or been nominated for throughout his film, television and theatre career:
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Crudup, Billy
1968 births
Living people
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
Male actors from New York (state)
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
People from Manhasset, New York
Crudup, Billy
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners
Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actor in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners
Tony Award winners
Theatre World Award winners
American people of French descent