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Billy Crudup
Crudup in NYC, January 2011
Born	William Gaither Crudup (1968-07-08) July 8, 1968 (age 43) Manhasset, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1996–present

William Gaither "Billy" Crudup ( /ˈkruːdəp/; born July 8, 1968) is an American actor of film and stage. He is well known for his roles as guitarist Russell Hammond in Almost Famous, Will Bloom in Big Fish, and Prince Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. He also starred in the 2007 romantic comedy film Dedication, alongside Mandy Moore. In 2009, he appeared as Doctor Manhattan in the film Watchmen and as J. Edgar Hoover in the film Public Enemies.

Early life[link]

Crudup was born in Manhasset, New York. His parents, Georgann (née Gaither) and Thomas Henry Crudup III, divorced during his childhood, and later remarried, before divorcing a second time.^[1][2][3] 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.^[4][5][6][7] Crudup has two brothers: Tommy, an executive producer, and Brooks, also a producer. 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 in 1986.

Crudup attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 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 the Graduate Acting Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts in 1994. A year after graduating, he made his debut on Broadway in the Lincoln Center Theater production of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia.

Career[link]

Crudup began acting in such films as 1996's Sleepers, 1997's Inventing the Abbotts and 1998's Without Limits, where he played the role of Olympic hopeful Steve Prefontaine. While he has appeared in many films, he regularly returns to the stage. His first role in an animated feature was in 1999's English release of Princess Mononoke, in which he starred as Ashitaka. He then played Russell Hammond, the lead guitarist of the fictional band Stillwater in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000). He has also been the voice of MasterCard "Priceless" commercials in the U.S. since 1997, making his first appearance in an ad in 2005. In 2006's The Good Shepherd, he played British spy Arch Cummings, a stand-in for Kim Philby. The same year, he played in Mission: Impossible III.

He also appeared as Zartan in The Ballad of G.I. Joe video on funnyordie.com

Crudup received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in The Elephant Man on Broadway, as well as 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, playing literary critic Vissarion Belinsky, for which he received another Tony Award nomination and subsequent win.

He also starred in "The Metal Children", an off-broadway play written and directed by Adam Rapp in 2010. Crudup completed Watchmen with director Zack Snyder in Vancouver, British Columbia. He portrays the superhero Doctor Manhattan.

In 2011, Crudup was honored with a Tony Award nomination for Featured Actor in a Play for his role in the Broadway revival of Arcadia.^[8]

In February, 2012, Crudup narrated a five-part television series on the first (of three) stage in the renovation of Madison Square Garden, which was televised on the Madison Square Garden Network. He is on the Board of Directors for The Actors Center in New York City.

Personal life[link]

From 1996 to November 2003, Crudup dated actress Mary-Louise Parker, with whom he has a son, William Atticus Parker, born on January 7, 2004. Crudup left Parker while she was seven months pregnant for his Stage Beauty co-star Claire Danes. In 2004, Danes and Crudup confirmed that they were dating, but denied the press reports that they were together at the time of Crudup's split with Parker. In December 2006, the couple split.

Filmography[link]

Awards[link]

Wins[link]

2001 

OFCS Award, for Almost Famous

2000 

Paris Film Festival, for Jesus' Son

1999 

Western Heritage Award, for The Hi-Lo Country

1998 

NBR Award, for The Hi-Lo Country

Nominations[link]

2002 

Satellite Award, for Charlotte Gray

2001 

Screen Actors Guild Awards, for Almost Famous

Blockbuster Entertainment Award, for Almost Famous

Independent Spirit Award, for Jesus' Son

MTV Movie Award, for Almost Famous

References[link]

External links[link]

• Billy Crudup at the Internet Movie Database
• Billy Crudup at the Internet Broadway Database
• Billy Crudup at the Internet Off-Broadway Database