Tracy Letts

Tracy Shane Letts (born July 4, 1965) is an American actor, playwright, podcaster, and screenwriter.

As a stage actor, Letts has performed in various classic plays with the Steppenwolf Theatre since 1988. He made his acting Broadway debut as George in the revival of Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 2013. He continued acting on the Broadway stage in All My Sons and The Minutes. On television, he is known for his portrayal of Andrew Lockhart in seasons 3 and 4 of Showtime's Homeland from 2013 to 2014. He played Jack McKinney in the HBO sports drama series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (2022–2023); for this role, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2024. On film, he has portrayed Henry Ford II in James Mangold's sports drama Ford v Ferrari (2019) and Mr. Dashwood in Little Women, a 2019 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel of the same name.

As a playwright, Letts' works include Killer Joe, Man from Nebraska, August: Osage County, and The Minutes. In 2008, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play for his work on August: Osage County.

Letts adapted three of his plays into films: Bug (2006) and Killer Joe (2011), both directed by William Friedkin; and August: Osage County (2013), directed by John Wells.

Early life

Letts was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to author Billie Letts (néeGipson), a college professor, and actor Dennis Letts. He has two brothers, Shawn, a musician, and Dana. He grew up in Durant, Oklahoma, and graduated from Durant High School in the early 1980s. He moved to Dallas, where he waited tables and worked in telemarketing while beginning his acting career. He appeared in Jerry Flemmons's O Dammit!, which was part of a new playwrights' series sponsored by Southern Methodist University.[citation needed]

Career

Theatre

Letts moved to Chicago at the age of 20, working for the next 11 years at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Famous Door. He is still an active member of Steppenwolf. He was a founding member of Bang Bang Spontaneous Theatre, whose members included Greg Kotis, Michael Shannon, Paul Dillon, and Amy Pietz. In 1991, Letts wrote the play Killer Joe. Two years later, the play premiered at the Next Lab Theater in Evanston, Illinois, followed by the 29th Street Rep in New York City. Since then, Killer Joe has been performed in a number of countries in 12 languages.

Letts has written a number of plays. His most famous, August: Osage County, premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on June 28, 2007. It had its Broadway debut at the Imperial Theatre on December 4, 2007; the production transferred to Broadway's Music Box Theatre on April 29, 2008. The Broadway show closed on June 28, 2009, after 648 performances and 18 previews. In 2008, the show was nominated for seven Tony Awards; it won six Tony Awards, including Best Play. The play won Letts the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008. Letts has also been a finalist for the Pulitzer drama prize for his plays Man from Nebraska and The Minutes; the Pulitzer committee described The Minutes as a "shocking drama set in a seemingly mundane city council meeting that acidly articulates a uniquely American toxicity that feels both historic and contemporary."

Letts's plays have depicted people struggling with moral and spiritual questions. He says he was inspired by the plays of Tennessee Williams and the novels of William Faulkner and Jim Thompson. He has said that he considers sounds to be effective "storytelling tools" for theater.

During the late 1980s through the late 2000s, Letts acted in many of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's productions, starring in Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile (1994). In 2012, he gained attention for his Broadway debut performance in the revival of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Booth Theatre. He received positive reviews and won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 2013. In 2019, he appeared in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons with Annette Bening at Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre. The show officially opened on April 22, 2019, and closed on June 23, 2019. Letts starred in the 2022 Broadway production of The Minutes; this was his first time acting in one of his own plays.

Television

Early in his acting career, in the 1990s through the mid-2000s, Letts acted in TV shows including Prison Break, The District, Strong Medicine, Profiler, Judging Amy, The Drew Carey Show, Seinfeld, Early Edition, and Home Improvement. In 2013–14, he joined the cast of Showtime's Homeland as US Senator Andrew Lockhart. He was nominated with the rest of the cast for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble.[citation needed]

In 2016, Letts joined HBO's marital comedy–drama Divorce. In 2018, Letts was cast in the second season of USA Network's anthology crime drama series The Sinner, opposite Bill Pullman and Carrie Coon. He played Jack McKinney in HBO's 2022-2023 series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. In 2024, he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his work on that series.

Film

Letts starred in Adam McKay's 2015 ensemble piece The Big Short, 2016's Wiener-Dog, Christine, and Elvis & Nixon, and James Schamus's film adaptation of the Philip Roth novel Indignation, as well as the true-story crime thriller adaptation Imperium. Letts appeared in the 2017 films The Lovers, The Post, and Lady Bird.

In 2019, Letts portrayed Henry Ford II in James Mangold's sports drama film Ford v Ferrari, and played Mr. Dashwood in Little Women, a film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel of the same name.

Letts has written screenplays for three feature films based on his plays: Bug (directed by William Friedkin), Killer Joe (also directed by Friedkin); and August: Osage County (directed by John Wells).[citation needed] He also wrote the screenplay for the 2021 Netflix feature film The Woman in the Window, starring Amy Adams, based on the eponymous psychological thriller by A. J. Finn.[citation needed]

Personal life

Letts married actress Carrie Coon in September 2013. They have two children, born in 2018 and 2021. Letts was previously engaged to actress Sarah Paulson, and was in a relationship with actress Holly Wantuch until her unexpected death in 1998. He has been sober since 1993.

Work as a writer

Theater

Screenwriter

Work as an actor

Theater

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

External links

• at theInternet Broadway Database
• atIMDb
• at theInternet Off-Broadway Database(archived)
• atPeople.com