Sam Waterston

Acting

The MovieWise Take

Refining cinematic analysis...

Biography

Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor and occasional producer and director. Among other roles, he is noted for his Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields, and his Golden Globe- and Screen Actors Guild Award-winning portrayal of Jack McCoy on the NBC television series Law & Order. He has been nominated for multiple Golden Globe-, Screen Actors Guild-, BAFTA- and Emmy Awards, having starred in over eighty film and television productions during his forty-five year career. Allmovie has characterised Waterston as having "cultivated a loyal following with his quietly charismatic, unfailingly solid performances."

Description above from the Wikipedia article Sam Waterston, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Family Guy

Bruce Kaplan (voice)

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Jack McCoy

Miss Sloane

George Dupont

Hannah and Her Sisters

David (uncredited)

On the Basis of Sex

Erwin Griswold

Tales from the Crypt

G.G. Devoe (segment "As Ye Sow")

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Ben

The Killing Fields

Sydney Schanberg

Full Filmography

Year	Title	Role
2026	Carousel MOVIE	Sam
2024	The Six Triple Eight MOVIE	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
2024	Merchant Ivory MOVIE	Self
2024	A Case for Love MOVIE	Self
2023	Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Travelled TV	Self
2022	The Dropout TV	George Shultz
2021	Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time MOVIE	Self (voice)
2020	The Man in the Woods MOVIE	Headmaster Waldorf
2020	Gatsby in Connecticut: The Untold Story MOVIE	Self
2018	On the Basis of Sex MOVIE	Erwin Griswold
2018	The Mayo Clinic MOVIE	Charlie Mayo (voice)
2018	Jane Fonda in Five Acts MOVIE	Self - (archive footage)
2017	Godless TV	Marshall John Cook
2017	Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George's Creators MOVIE	Narrator (voice)
2017	Dateline: Saigon MOVIE	Narrator (voice)
2016	Miss Sloane MOVIE	George Dupont
2016	Anesthesia MOVIE	Prof. Walter Zarrow
2015	The Late Show with Stephen Colbert TV	Self - Guest
2015	And It Was Good MOVIE	Judge Alexander Baas / Doctor / Gravedigger
2015	Grace and Frankie TV	Sol Bergstein
2015	Dean Smith MOVIE	Narrator
2015	Please Be Normal MOVIE	Dad
2013	Jo TV	Self
2012	The Newsroom TV	Charlie Skinner
2011	Prohibition TV	Reader (voice)
2010	The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear MOVIE	Self
2007	Masters of Science Fiction TV	Self
2006	The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays MOVIE	John Honeyman (segment "A Walk in the Woods")
2005	The Colbert Report TV	Self
2005	The Colbert Report TV	Self (uncredited)
2005	Law & Order: Trial by Jury TV	Jack McCoy
2004	Hammer and Cycle MOVIE	Self - Narrator
2003	The Commission MOVIE	J. Lee Rankin
2003	Le Divorce MOVIE	Chester Walker
2002	The Matthew Shepard Story MOVIE	Dennis Shepard
2000	A House Divided MOVIE	David Dickson
1999	The Unfinished Journey MOVIE	Narrator (voice)
1999	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit TV	Jack McCoy
1999	In Bad Taste MOVIE	Self
1999	Moment of Impact: Stories of the Pulitzer Prize Photographs MOVIE	Self / Host / Narrator
1999	Here Am I, Send Me: The Story of Jonathan Daniels MOVIE	Narrator
1999	Family Guy TV	Bruce Kaplan (voice)
1998	Exiled MOVIE	Jack McCoy
1998	Miracle at Midnight MOVIE	Dr. Karl Koster
1997	Lewis & Clark - The Journey of the Corps of Discovery TV	Thomas Jefferson (voice)
1997	The View TV	Self
1997	The View TV	Self - Guest
1997	Thomas Jefferson TV	Thomas Jefferson (voice)
1997	Shadow Conspiracy MOVIE	The President
1996	The Proprietor MOVIE	Harry Bancroft
1995	Nixon MOVIE	Richard Helms
1995	The Journey of August King MOVIE	Mooney Wright
1995	Amazing Stories: The Movie IV MOVIE	(archive footage)
1995	Time Life's Lost Civilizations TV	Narrator
1994	Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage MOVIE	Tom Wingfield (archive footage)
1994	The Enemy Within MOVIE	President William Foster
1994	Serial Mom MOVIE	Eugene Sutphin
1994	David's Mother MOVIE	John Nils
1994	Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker MOVIE	Daniel Chamberlain
1993	I'll Fly Away: Then and Now MOVIE	Forrest Bedford
1993	Homicide: Life on the Street TV	Jack McCoy
1992	Earth and the American Dream MOVIE	Reader (voice)
1992	HBO First Look TV	Self
1991	Mindwalk MOVIE	Jack Edwards
1991	I'll Fly Away TV	Forrest Bedford
1991	The Man in the Moon MOVIE	Matthew Trant
1990	The Civil War TV	Abraham Lincoln
1990	Law & Order TV	Jack McCoy
1990	Night of 100 Stars III MOVIE	Self
1990	A Captive in the Land MOVIE	Royce
1989	The Nightmare Years TV	Bill Shirer
1989	Crimes and Misdemeanors MOVIE	Ben
1989	Welcome Home MOVIE	Woody
1989	Lantern Hill MOVIE	Andrew Stuart
1989	Tales from the Crypt TV	G.G. Devoe (segment "As Ye Sow")
1988	Terrorist on Trial: The United States vs. Salim Ajami MOVIE	Jim Delmore
1988	Lincoln TV	Abraham Lincoln
1988	A Walk in the Woods MOVIE	John Honeyman
1987	September MOVIE	Peter
1987	Devil's Paradise MOVIE	Jones
1987	Swimming to Cambodia MOVIE	Additional Cast from 'The Killing Fields' (archive footage)
1987	The Room Upstairs MOVIE	Travis Coles
1986	Flagrant désir MOVIE	Inspecteur Gerry Morrison
1986	Just Between Friends MOVIE	Harry Crandall
1986	The Fifth Missile MOVIE	Capt. Allard Renslow
1986	Hannah and Her Sisters MOVIE	David (uncredited)
1985	Amazing Stories TV	Jordan Manmouth
1985	Warning Sign MOVIE	Cal Morse
1985	Love Lives On MOVIE	Bernie
1985	Finnegan Begin Again MOVIE	Paul Broadbent
1984	The Killing Fields MOVIE	Sydney Schanberg
1984	The Boy Who Loved Trolls MOVIE	Ofoeti
1984	Jeopardy! TV	Self
1983	Dempsey MOVIE	Doc Kearns
1983	In Defense of Kids MOVIE	Paul Wilcox
1982	Games Mother Never Taught You MOVIE	David Bentells
1982	Q.E.D. TV	Self
1980	Heaven's Gate MOVIE	Frank Canton
1980	Friendly Fire MOVIE	C.D.B. Bryan
1980	Oppenheimer TV	Robert Oppenheimer
1980	Hopscotch MOVIE	Jack Cutter
1980	Sweet William MOVIE	William McClusky
1979	Eagle's Wing MOVIE	White Bull
1978	Interiors MOVIE	Mike
1977	Capricorn One MOVIE	Lt. Col. Peter Willis
1976	Sweet Revenge MOVIE	Le Clerq
1975	Saturday Night Live TV	Self (uncredited)
1975	Journey into Fear MOVIE	Mr. Graham
1975	Rancho Deluxe MOVIE	Cecil Colson
1975	People's Choice Awards TV	Self - Presenter
1974	Reflections of Murder MOVIE	Michael Elliott
1974	The Great Gatsby MOVIE	Nick Carraway
1973	The Glass Menagerie MOVIE	Tom Wingfield
1973	Much Ado About Nothing MOVIE	Benedick
1972	Mahoney's Last Stand MOVIE	Felix
1972	Savages MOVIE	James, the Limping Man
1971	Who Killed Mary Whats'ername? MOVIE	Alex Monte
1970	Cover Me Babe MOVIE	Cameraman
1969	Three MOVIE	Taylor
1969	Generation MOVIE	Desmond
1967	Fitzwilly MOVIE	Oliver
1966	The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean MOVIE	Andy
1961	Dr. Kildare TV	Mark
1951	Hallmark Hall of Fame TV	Travis Coles
	Rain Falls from Earth: Surviving Cambodia's Darkest Hour MOVIE	Self (voice)

Quick Facts

Sam Waterston

The MovieWise Take

Biography

Known For

Full Filmography

Cinema in your inbox.