Oliver Platt

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Oliver Platt

Platt visiting Pacific High School in Brooklyn
Born Oliver James Platt
January 12, 1960 (1960-01-12) (age 48)
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Occupation Actor

Oliver James Platt (born January 12, 1960) is an American film and television actor.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Platt was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada to American parents Sheila Maynard, a clinical social worker who worked in Islamabad,[1] and Nicholas Platt, a career diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Zambia and the Philippines.[2] His family moved back to the United States when Platt was three months old.[3] He is a distant cousin of filmmaker Orson Welles, and Diana, Princess of Wales through his great-great-grandmother, Frances Work.[3] When asked about Princess Diana, his second-cousin once removed, Platt said, "I never met her. It's a non-story. I'd love to tell you we were confidantes. The truth is I don't know much more about it than you do."[3]

Much of Platt's childhood was spent in Asia, where he played soccer.[4] His family made frequent trips back to Washington, D.C., where they held Redskins season tickets.[4]Platt is also a fan of the Boston Red Sox.[4] When he was nine years old, Platt and his family visited Kennedy Center in Washington, where he watched a performance that helped inspire his acting career.[2] "One of the performances that really made me want to be an actor started out with this probably 20-minute rambling, drunken monologue by this bum. And it was a young Morgan Freeman. I'll never forget it. This guy was just so riveting. He stood there on stage alone before the curtain went up, and he held this audience utterly rapt. Including myself, obviously."[2]

Because of his father's career as an ambassador, Oliver Platt grew up in Asia, the Middle East and Washington, D.C.[5] Platt attended 12 different schools, and has said "Even now I find myself envying people who have neighborhoods and roots".[5] According to Platt, drama departments gave his childhood some stability, "It was something of a survival mechanism, in that it gave me a little subculture to plug into wherever I ended up. Kids need that. I certainly did."[5] Platt was expelled from three schools in the ninth grade in Japan for smoking marijuana.[6] He then attended a progressive boarding school in Colorado.[6]

Platt majored in drama at Tufts University, then spent three years working in theater in Boston, which he said had a " wealth of serious amateur theatre at that time…I played many roles, and it was the best training I could have had."[7] Platt travelled with Shakespeare and Company, based in Lenox, Massachusetts, touring schools to earn his Equity card, before moving to New York.[7] Platt's early career involved off-Broadway and regional theater, and he appeared onstage with the New York Shakespeare Festival, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theater Club, and other companies across many genres.[7] He obtained an agent while working at Manhattan Punch Line Theater, and met actor Bill Murray at his cousin's Christmas party.[7] Murray attended Platt's show and recommended Platt to director Jonathan Demme, who cast him in Married to the Mob in 1988.[7] Platt attributes his breakthrough to appearing at the Punch Line Theater.[7]

[edit] Career

Platt makes his decisions about accepting acting roles based on the role being "different from what I just did...I do have to be interested in the role".[7] After Married to the Mob, he appeared in Working Girl (1988), Flatliners (1990), The Three Musketeers (1993), A Time to Kill (1996) and Bulworth (1998).[8] In 1998, Platt and Stanley Tucci played two deadbeat actors who improvise with unsuspecting strangers in The Imposters.[9] Tucci and Platt developed the characters while working on a play at Yale University in 1988, Tucci later completing the screenplay and directing the film.[9]

In 1999, Platt played the wealthy and eccentric crocodile enthusiast Hector in David E. Kelley's Lake Placid, alongside Bill Pullman and Bridget Fonda.[10] Platt described Hector as "pretty abrasive and obnoxious at times, but, I hope, he has a way of growing on you. I think David originally thought of him as a Great White Hunter sort of guy, but when I signed on for the role he sort of wrote him in a different direction."[10]

The short-lived drama Deadline provided Platt's first lead role on television. Created by Dick Wolf, who also created Law & Order, Deadline focused on the lives of newspaper journalists in New York City.[11] Platt starred as Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Wallace Benton, an "unlikely hero". The strong cast, which also included Bebe Neuwirth and Hope Davis, could not compensate for sub-standard writing and the series was soon canceled.[11][7] After Deadline's failure, Platt avoided work on television until he read a script for The West Wing and signed on for a guest role.[7] He received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of no-nonsense White House Counsel Oliver Babish,[7] brought in during season two to compile a defence for President Bartlet and others who covered up his non-disclosure of multiple sclerosis.[12]

His role in the television series Huff as Russell Tupper from 2004 to 2006 was well-received, especially by creator Robert Lowry, who said, "Oliver plays an alcoholic, drug-addicted, sexaholic, workaholic, womanizing misogynist who is adorable. I don't know any actor who could do that. I originally saw Russell as a blond stud, but when I saw what Oliver could do, I realized how much better, richer, and less predictable he was than my idea of the character...Oliver is very committed to the idea that story and dialogue be character-driven and unique".[7] Platt's work was nominated for two Emmy awards and a Golden Globe.[13][7]

In 2005, Platt acted in Harold Ramis's film The Ice Harvest as an unhappy businessman with a trophy wife and two stepchildren who becomes involved with a friend who has stolen $2 million from a Mafia boss.[14] He also played a lard merchant named Papprizzio in Lasse Hallstrom's Casanova, who competes with Casanova (Heath Ledger) for marriage to Francesca (Sienna Miller).[14] Platt won the New York Film Critics Online Award for best supporting actor for his role in Casanova.[15]

A Broadway production named Shining City was Platt's Broadway debut in 2006.[7] The play was set in Dublin, and Platt's role was the tortured protagonist, John.[7] Shining City's director said, "There is one word to describe Oliver. It's 'humanity.' He's got that everyman quality. He's a contradictory human being with flaws and strengths. And he's loveable. He can simultaneously make you laugh and break your heart. Oliver has brought to the role of John what I expected and more: tremendous inventiveness and sensitivity."[7] Platt visited Dublin to prepare for the role and ensure his performance was authentic.[7] He was nominated for a Tony award for "Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play".[16]

In 2007, Platt played the part of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in the ESPN mini-series The Bronx is Burning.[17] Platt signed onto the project after John Turturro was confirmed as Billy Martin, because, "This thing lives or dies by that portrayal… I think it's great casting. God knows he has the intensity."[4] Platt starred in the pilot episode of The Thick of It, a remake of the British show of the same name in 2007.[13] The series was not picked up by ABC.[13]

[edit] Personal life

Platt married Mary Camilla Bonsal Campbell (known as Camilla) in September 1992 at the First Congregational Church in Kittery Point, Maine.[1] He now focuses on film and television more than theater because, "I've got a wife and three kids, so film is just the most viable thing for me right now. I still love the theater, but the commitment in time and energy to do live theater is so great, and, frankly, the financial rewards are just not as attractive. When you have a family, you have to think about those things."[10] Platt has an open plane ticket when filming so he can return home frequently, because his family does not accompany him to filming locations.[9]

Tufts University considered offering their Light on the Hill award to Platt in 2008, which is given to distinguished alumni.[18] Tufts Community Union President Neil DiBiase said Platt was unable to make it to Tufts that semester, and they " would rather wait to find a better opportunity for him to come to campus when his schedule is more available. The point of the award is to get [alumni] back to campus."[18] The 2008 award was instead given to Jeff Kindler, chief executive of pharmaceutical company Pfizer.[18]

[edit] Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1988 Married to the Mob Ed Benitez
1988 Working Girl Lutz
1989 Crusoe Mr. Newby
1990 Flatliners Randy Steckle
1992 Beethoven Harvey
1992 Diggstown Fitz
1993 Indecent Proposal Jeremy
1993 The Three Musketeers Porthos
1993 Benny & Joon Eric
1995 Funny Bones Tommy Fawkes
1995 The Infiltrator Yaron
1995 Executive Decision Dennis Cahill
1996 A Time to Kill Harry Rex Vonner
1998 Dangerous Beauty Maffio Venier
1998 Bulworth Dennis Murphy
1998 The Impostors Maurice
1998 Dr. Dolittle Dr. Mark Weller
1998 Simon Birch Ben Goodrich
1999 Lake Placid Hector Cyr
1999 Three to Tango Peter Steinberg
1999 Bicentennial Man Rupert Burns
2000 Ready to Rumble Jimmy King
2000 Gun Shy Fulvio Nesstra
2000—2001 Deadline Wallace Benton
2001, 2005 The West Wing White House Counsel Oliver Babish Emmy nomination: Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (2001)
2002 Liberty Stands Still Victor Wallace
2003 Pieces of April Jim Burns
2003 Hope Springs Doug Reed
2004—2006 Huff Russell Tupper Emmy nominations: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2005 and 2006),
Golden Globe nomination: Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for Television (2005)
2004 Kinsey Herman Wells
2005 The Ice Harvest Pete
2005 Casanova Paprizzio
2007 The Ten Marc Jacobson
2007 The Bronx is Burning George Steinbrenner
2007 Nip/Tuck Freddy Prune
2008 Frost/Nixon Bob Zelnick
2009 The Year One High Priest

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Weddings; Camilla Campbell, Oliver Platt", New York Times, 1992-09-13. Retrieved on 2008-03-10. 
  2. ^ a b c Kipen, David. "Oliver Platt: from second banana to pick of the bunch", L.A. Life, Los Angeles Daily News, 1995-04-03, p. L1. 
  3. ^ a b c McDonald, Gayle. "Oliver Platt: 7 questions", The Globe and Mail, 2006-04-28, p. R34. 
  4. ^ a b c d Deitsch, Richard. "Q&A Oliver Platt", Sports Illustrated, Volume 105; Issue 17, 2006-10-30, p. 24. 
  5. ^ a b c Snead, Elizabeth. "Oliver Platt well-rounded as an 'Impostor'", USA Today, 1998-10-06, p. 5D. 
  6. ^ a b Lee, Linda. "A night out with Oliver Platt; a wash and a shampoo", New York Times, 1999-07-18. Retrieved on 2008-03-10. 
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Horwitz, Simi. "Back stage; Oliver Platt plots his career without a map", VNU Entertainment Newswire, 2006-05-10. 
  8. ^ "Face of the day: Oliver Platt", Wales on Sunday, 2002-08-11, p. 48. 
  9. ^ a b c Rowe, Douglas. "The ubiquitous Oliver Platt", Associated Press Newswires, 1998-10-27. 
  10. ^ a b c King, Dennis. "Swimming with the crocs Oliver Platt knows a thing or two about oddball characters", Tulsa World, 1999-07-19, p. 15. 
  11. ^ a b Gilbert, Matthew. "'Deadline' misses, and that's a crime", Living, The Boston Globe, 2000-10-02. Retrieved on 2008-04-14. 
  12. ^ Challen, Paul (2001). Inside the West Wing. Toronto: ECW Press. ISBN 1550224689. 
  13. ^ a b c "Oliver Platt joins ABC political comedy", Reuters News, 2007-03-09. 
  14. ^ a b King, Susan. "Oliver Platt a scene-stealer in the old tradition: The actor tells all about the art of playing drunk, and the trouble with being the only American in a movie full of British actors playing Italians", Vancouver Sun, 2005-11-28, p. C3. 
  15. ^ Hartl, John. "Casanova: supporting actor Oliver Platt saves comedy's flow", The Seattle Times, 2005-12-25. Retrieved on 2008-03-10. 
  16. ^ "Oliver Platt, Donald Byrd receive Tony award nominations", US Fed News, 2006-06-05. 
  17. ^ "Pinstripe epic", New York Post, 2006-09-20. 
  18. ^ a b c Gittleson, Ben. "Light on the Hill Award offered to Pfizer CEO", Tufts Daily, 2008-02-28. Retrieved on 2008-03-10. 

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Platt, Oliver
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 12, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Windsor, Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH