Peter MacNicol

Early life

MacNicol was born on April 10, 1954, in Dallas, Texas, the youngest of five children of Barbara, a homemaker, and John MacNicol, a corporate executive who became an Episcopal priest later in life.

Career

MacNicol performed at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis for two seasons from 1978 to 1979. He appeared in productions, which included Hamlet and The Pretenders. He made his New York debut in the 1980 off-Broadway play, Crimes of the Heart. The production then moved to Broadway in 1981, and he won the Theatre World Award. It was during this production that a casting agent noticed him and auditioned him for a role in the film, Sophie's Choice. In 1981 he landed the starring role in his first film, Dragonslayer, opposite Ralph Richardson.

In 1987, MacNicol starred in the Trinity Repertory Company's original production of the stage adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men, which first appeared at the Dallas Theater Center. The adaptation was developed in consultation with the author.

Among his other stage credits is the Broadway production of Black Comedy/White Lies. He has appeared in repertory theater, including the New York Shakespeare Festival where he played title roles in Richard II and Romeo and Juliet; and in Twelfth Night, Rum and Coke and Found a Peanut.

In film, he plays the naive Southern writer who falls in love with Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice, the museum curator Janosz Poha in Ghostbusters II, and overenthusiastic camp director Gary Granger alongside future Numbers co-star David Krumholtz in Addams Family Values. Other film credits include the films Housesitter and American Blue Note.

From 1992 to 1993 MacNicol starred opposite John Forsythe, Holland Taylor, David Hyde Pierce and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as press secretary Bradley Grist in the political television comedy The Powers That Be. In addition, he played Mario, a hotel receptionist, in the 1993 Cheers episode "Look Before You Sleep".

In 1994 MacNicol played the role of Alan Birch for the first season and part of the second season of Chicago Hope once creator David E. Kelley departed. He later rejoined Kelley in 1997 by taking a role on another TV series, Ally McBeal, as a main guest star from Season 1 to Season 4 and a recurring character in Season 5. MacNicol is well known for his Ally McBeal performance as eccentric attorney John Cage, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2001. From 2005 to 2010, he starred in the drama Numbers as physicist Dr. Larry Fleinhardt, taking a brief break from the show to perform as Tom Lennox in the sixth season of the hit FOX show 24. MacNicol reprised his role as Lennox in the film 24: Redemption.

MacNicol has lent his voice to several comic book supervillains: Dr. Kirk Langstrom / Man-Bat in The Batman, David Clinton / Chronos in Justice League Unlimited, Professor Ivo in Young Justice, Dr. Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus in The Spectacular Spider-Man, X The Eliminator in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law and the Mad Hatter in the video games Batman: Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Origins, and Batman: Arkham Knight. He also voiced Firefly in G.I. Joe: Renegades.

MacNicol played Dr. Stark, a pediatric surgeon, on Grey's Anatomy.

MacNicol was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding guest actor in the fifth season of Veep; however, his nomination was rescinded because he appeared in "too many of the show’s episodes; the rules require that a guest actor nominee be in less than half of a season." Although MacNicol qualified when his entry was submitted, he later appeared briefly in one more episode. He was nominated again in the same category for the seventh season of Veep.

Personal life

MacNicol has been married to Martha Cumming since 1986.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

References

1. "Celebrity birthdays for the week of April 10–17". ABC News.
2. Bobbin, Jay. (December 19, 1999). "News; I recently saw a ''Chicago Hope'' ...". [[Chicago Tribune]].
3. Johnson, T.. (June 13, 1998). "Ally McBeal's ally talks bagpipes, yodeling and other quirks". [[TV Guide]].
4. (1989-07-17). "Striking Out with Sigourney, Social Slimer Peter MacNicol Still Scores in Ghostbusters II".
5. Corry, John. (November 6, 1981). "It Was A Victory Party For ''Crimes Of The Heart''". [[The New York Times]].
6. Harmetz, Aligean. (September 25, 1981). "Peter Macnicol Captures Key Role In 'Sophie's Choice'". The New York Times.
7. (1987-04-21). "'All the King's Men' is now a play. Adrian Hall stages a bigger-than-life adaptation". [[The Christian Science Monitor]].
8. Benzel, Jan. (June 28, 1987). "A Young American Dons Richard II's Crown". The New York Times.
9. Rosenberg, Howard. (March 7, 1992). "TV Reviews: 'Powers' Has Deft Cast but Mannered Lunacy". [[Los Angeles Times]].
10. "Look Before You Sleep".
11. "Look Before You Sleep".
12. Guerroro, Tony. (May 1, 2008). "Peter MacNicol Discusses Voicing Doc Ock".
13. Abrhams, Natalie. (June 24, 2015). "Exclusive: Peter MacNicol Joins Grey's Anatomy". TV Guide.
14. Dessem, Matthew. (July 21, 2016). "Veep's Peter MacNicol Has His Emmy Nomination Revoked Over Eligibility Issue". [[Slate (magazine).
15. Bradley, Laura. (July 21, 2016). "Peter MacNicol Gets Disqualified for Emmys After Getting Nom for Veep".
16. "Peter MacNicol (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors.
17. Wiseman, Andreas. (February 5, 2024). "Arian Moayed, Este Haim, Lionel Boyce, Ziwe & More Join Elisabeth Moss, Kate Hudson & Kaia Gerber In Max Minghella’s Thriller ‘Shell’".
18. Debruge, Peter. (June 12, 2024). "''The Day the Earth Blew Up'' Review: Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Save the World in Side-Splitting Looney Tunes Movie".
19. Whipp, Glenn. (July 20, 2016). "A few seconds of screen time cost 'Veep' actor Peter MacNicol an Emmy nomination". [[Los Angeles Times]].