Finn Wittrock

Early life

Wittrock was born in Lenox, Massachusetts, the son of Kate Claire Crowley, a professor of occupational therapy at the University of Southern California, and Peter L. Wittrock, an actor. He has a younger brother, Dylan. As a child, he grew up at the Shakespeare & Company theatre, where his father worked, and would often act as a pageboy or messenger. As a teenager, he attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, where he would act, make films and be a part of movement classes for actors. In 2003, Wittrock was named a U.S Presidential Scholar in the Arts as part of the Presidential Scholars program. He is also a YoungArts alumnus. After graduating from high school, he was accepted into the Juilliard School, but turned them down, hoping to get work in Los Angeles.

Wittrock acted in some episodes for television, but would often face rejection. He auditioned for Juilliard the next year and was accepted again. He attended the school, where he was a member of the drama division's Group 37 (2004–2008). He was an active participant in the drama department and starred in several theatrical productions. He also won the Juilliard Journal Award, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Juilliard's newspaper, The Juilliard Journal; and was the recipient of the drama division's Stephanie Palmer McClelland Scholarship. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2008.

Career

At the end of high school, Wittrock appeared in guest stints on the police procedural series Cold Case and medical drama ER. He also made an appearance on CSI: Miami and in the Disney Channel Original Movie Halloweentown High (2004) during his time at drama school. After graduating from Juilliard, he portrayed Romeo in Washington, D.C.'s regional theatre, the Shakespeare Theatre Company's production of Romeo and Juliet, as well as playing the role of Eugene Marchbanks in the 2008 production of Candida at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. He later portrayed Damon Miller in the long-running series All My Children from 2009 to 2011, portrayed Troilus in the 2009 Off-Broadway play The Age of Iron, and appeared in the teen drama film Twelve (2010).

In 2011, Wittrock starred in the Off-Broadway play The Illusion by famous playwright Tony Kushner. Director Mike Nichols came to see the play and later told Wittrock to audition for producer Scott Rudin for their upcoming revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. He got the part of Harold "Happy" Loman and made his Broadway debut in 2012 opposite Philip Seymour Hoffman. The Nichols-directed play won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play and Wittrock won a Theatre World Award and the Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Male Performer. Later that year, he starred in a production of The Blue Deep at the Williamstown Theatre Festival directed by Bob Balaban. He also appeared on series such as Harry's Law, Criminal Minds and played the role of gigolo Chance Wayne in the David Cromer-directed production of Tennessee Williams' play Sweet Bird of Youth at The Goodman Theatre

In 2013, he starred in the play adaptation of the film The Guardsman at The Kennedy Center, directed by Gregory Mosher. He also guest-starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and on several episodes of the series Masters of Sex.

In 2014, Wittrock first collaborated with director Ryan Murphy in the HBO television film The Normal Heart, based on the play of the same name. He also appeared in the films Winter's Tale and director Darren Aronofsky's Noah, playing a young Tubal-cain. He next collaborated with Murphy playing the integral part of the wealthy Dandy Mott on American Horror Story: Freak Show, the fourth season of the FX anthology series American Horror Story for which he was a series regular. For his performance, Wittrock received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. Wittrock rounded out 2014 by starring as World War II Air Force bombardier Francis "Mac" McNamara in Angelina Jolie's biographical war drama film Unbroken, which revolves around the life of USA Olympian and athlete Louis "Louie" Zamperini.

In 2015, Wittrock marked his third collaboration with Murphy as model Tristan Duffy and actor Rudolph Valentino in the fifth installment of American Horror Story, subtitled Hotel. Also in 2015, he co-starred in Adam McKay's drama film The Big Short. In 2016, Wittrock had a small role in the musical La La Land, directed by Damien Chazelle, and released in December. He co-stars as Cassio alongside Daniel Craig and David Oyelowo in the Sam Gold-directed production of William Shakespeare's Othello, which started its run on December 12 at the New York Theatre Workshop.

In 2017, Wittrock returned to Broadway, in the Sam Gold-directed production of Tennessee Williams' play The Glass Menagerie, opposite Sally Field and Joe Mantello. The play opened on March 23, 2017 and closed on July 2, 2017. That year, Wittrock also appeared in Gillian Robespierre's comedy film Landline. In 2018, he briefly played actor Tim Matheson in David Wain's comedy A Futile and Stupid Gesture.

In August 2018, he starred with Kristen Stewart in the music video for Indie band Interpol's music video for "If You Really Love Nothing".

Wittrock co-starred as Judy Garland's fifth and final husband Mickey Deans in the biopic Judy (2019), directed by Rupert Goold. In January 2019, it was announced that Wittrock will star in the upcoming Netflix drama series Ratched, as well as appearing in one episode of American Horror Story: 1984.

In April 2021, Wittrock had officially been cast as Guy Gardner for the HBO Max live action television series based on Green Lantern. In July 2022, the series was confirmed to have been undergoing rewrites, and the start of production had been delayed. In an interview, Wittrock claimed that the series was still in production. In January 2023 the DC Studios co-president James Gunn, announced a new slate of projects that would serve as a reboot of the DC Extended Universe. Among these projects was a Green Lantern series titled Lanterns. This series was going to be focused on the Hal Jordan version of Green Lantern. It was unknown at the time whether or not Wittrock was still involved. It was speculated that the majority of actors involved in the DCEU would be recast, and that all prior plans for DC in film or TV had been cancelled, leading to some backlash from fans. In July 2023 Gunn announced that he had chosen to cast frequent collaborator Nathan Fillion as the Guy Gardner character, effectively replacing Wittrock.

In 2024, Wittrock appeared in the autobiographical documentary Steve! (martin): a documentary in two pieces on Apple TV. In it, he plays Steve Martin's father, Glenn, in a skit based on Martin's play WASP.

Personal life

On October 18, 2014, Wittrock married his longtime girlfriend and fellow Juilliard graduate, Sarah Roberts, in a private ceremony. In March 2019, the couple had a son, Jude.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Music videos

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

References

1. (April 2008). "Juilliard Students Return to New Orleans". The Juilliard Journal.
2. Gladstone, Douglas J.. (7 August 2016). "PROFILE: Lenox-born actor Finn Wittrock builds a stellar career". The Berkshire Edge.
3. "Peter L Wittrock, United States Public Records".
4. "Catherine C Crowley, United States Public Records". [[FamilySearch]].
5. Smith, Nigel M.. (29 December 2014). "Finn Wittrock On Going To Extremes For 'American Horror Story' and 'Unbroken'". [[Indiewire]].
6. "Kate Crowley". [[RateMyProfessors.com]].
7. (December 2, 2010). "AMC Stars Together On Stage!". ABC - Soaps In Depth.
8. Brown, Emma. (2014-12-18). "THE CHARACTER ACTOR". [[Interview (magazine).
9. (June 15, 2015). "DP/30 Emmy Watch: Finn Wittrock, American Horror Story: Freak Show". [[YouTube]].
10. "Our History {{!}} 40 years for artists".
11. "2 Students Share 5th Annual Juilliard Journal Award". [[The Juilliard School]].
12. "Peter ''Finn'' Wittrock". [[The Juilliard School]].
13. Jones, Kenneth. (5 August 2008). "DC's All-Male Romeo and Juliet Will Feature Juilliard's Wittrock and Davis".
14. Hetrick, Adam. (15 April 2008). "Atkinson Is Candida for Berkshire Theatre Festival".
15. (13 December 2009). "Classic Stage Company Presents THE AGE OF IRON, Closes 12/13".
16. (June 11, 2012). "2012 Tony Award Winner full list: 'Once' rules the night". [[The Washington Post]].
17. (6 June 2012). "Phillip Boykin, Jeremy Jordan, Finn Wittrock & More Celebrate the 2012 Theatre World Awards". Broadway.com.
18. Gens, Andrew. (12 June 2012). "Susan Pourfar and Finn Wittrock Receive Actors' Equity Clarence Derwent Awards June 12".
19. "THE BLUE DEEP".
20. Jones, Kenneth. (24 September 2012). "Sweet Bird of Youth, With Diane Lane and Finn Wittrock, Opens at Goodman".
21. Gans, Andrew. (25 May 2013). "Kennedy Center's The Guardsman, with Shuler Hensley, Julie Halston, Finn Wittrock, Begins May 25".
22. (16 July 2015). "'AHS' Star Finn Wittrock Reveals Emmy Nomination Secret Weapon: 'I'll Just Have to Wear Something Awesome'". [[TheWrap]].
23. Kenneally, Tim. (June 17, 2015). "Lady Gaga Will Be Torn Between Matt Bomer and Finn Wittrock in 'American Horror Story: Hotel'".
24. Fleming, Mike Jr.. (April 21, 2015). "'The Big Short' Solidifies With Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt".
25. Ford, Rebecca. (10 July 2015). "'La La Land' Adding 'American Horror Story' Actor Finn Wittrock (Exclusive)". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
26. Lang, Brent. (March 7, 2016). "Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone Musical 'La La Land' Grabs Oscar Season Debut".
27. Lloyd Webber, Imogen. (25 August 2016). "Finn Wittrock & More to Join Othello, Starring Daniel Craig & David Oyelowo, Off-Broadway". Broadway.com.
28. Gerard, Jeremy. (6 June 2016). "Sally Field & Joe Mantello Will Star In 'The Glass Menagerie' Broadway Revival For Scott Rudin". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
29. "Kristen Stewart and Finn Wittrock Star in Interpol's Wild 'If You Really Love Nothing' Video: Watch".
30. (2018-08-23). "Kristen Stewart and Finn Wittrock paint the town red in Interpol's new video for "If You Really Love Nothing": Watch". Consequence of Sound.
31. Petski, Denise. (January 14, 2019). "'Ratched': Sharon Stone, Cynthia Nixon Among 10 Cast In Ryan Murphy's Netflix Series". Deadline.
32. (7 November 2019). "Finn Wittrock's Mysterious 'AHS' Character Could Mean Another Time Jump".
33. Otterson, Joe. (2021-04-30). "'Green Lantern' HBO Max Series Casts Finn Wittrock".
34. McPhee, Ryan. (20 October 2014). "No More Clowning Around: AHS: Freak Show Star & Broadway Alum Finn Wittrock Marries Sarah Roberts". [[Broadway theatre.
35. Callegari, Caitlyn. (11 November 2014). "Who Is 'AHS' Dandy Mott Married To? Finn Wittrock's Wife Must Be Fearless".
36. Hicklin, Aaron. (September 27, 2019). "Finn Wittrock of 'Judy' Visits His Old Juilliard Haunts". [[The New York Times]].
37. (December 6, 2018). "'AHS' Star Finn Wittrock, Wife Sarah Roberts Expecting Their First Child".
38. (October 22, 2019). "Finn Wittrock Believes in Being Nice".
39. Kroll, Justin. (2023-07-19). "Ishana Night Shyamalan's ''The Watchers'' & Sam Raimi's ''Don't Move'' Among Latest Projects Granted SAG-AFTRA Waivers To Shoot During Strike".
40. Lang, Brent. (December 12, 2025). "‘Westhampton’ With Finn Wittrock, RJ Mitte and Jake Weary Acquired by New Distributor Obscured Releasing (EXCLUSIVE)".
41. (2025-03-19). "Ava Max has dropped a new music video for 'Lost Your Faith' featuring Finn Wittrock - Dork".