Sam Rockwell
About
Biography
Biography
After delivering a decade of memorable, off-the-wall performances in independent films like "Box of Moonlight" (1996) and "Lawn Dogs" (1997), actor Sam Rockwell's supporting role as an unrepentant killer in "The Green Mile" (2000) finally made him known to mainstream audiences. But it was his loopy turn as game show host-turned-CIA agent Chuck Barris in the fantastical biopic "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" (2002) that completed his successful crossover from indie film mainstay. From there, Rockwell ambulated easily between both worlds, co-starring opposite Nicholas Cage in the zany crime thriller "Matchstick Men" (2005), playing the two-headed, three-armed President of the Galaxy in the long-awaited "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (2005) and shining as an estranged husband reconnecting with his wife in the little-seen Sundance hit "Snow Angels" (2007). He turned to historical portrayals in both "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (2007) and "Frost/Nixon" (2008), and played a sex addict in "Choke" (2008). Rockwell was adept at transforming both his appearance and demeanor to inhabit a wide range of roles, as he did playing a lone astronaut in "Moon" (2009), Tony Stark's incompetent rival in "Iron Man 2" (2010) and a timid saloon owner in "Cowboys & Aliens" (2011). Regardless of the movie, Rockwell's chameleon-like ability to portray just about any character was always in demand.
Sam Rockwell was born on Nov. 5, 1968, in Daly City CA, near the San Francisco Bay area. His parents, who were both aspiring actors, moved to New York City when Rockwell was two years old. When the couple split up several years later, Rockwell moved to San Francisco with his father he but grew up spending summers with his mother in Greenwich Village, tagging along with her to downtown theaters and after parties. While hanging out at a theater rehearsal one summer day, a director suggested that 10-year-old Rockwell would be a hilarious addition to a comedy sketch. He was instantly attracted to the stage, and began appearing in productions every year after that. Rockwell's bohemian lifestyle seemed to suit him, but as he grew into a restless teenager, even high school theater offerings could not hold his interest and he dropped out. His parents intervened, enrolling the stoner teen in an alternative schooling program that successfully got him back on track, aided in no small part by his focus on acting.
After Rockwell was cast in the TV film "Clownhouse" in 1988, he decided to move to New York full time and pursue acting. He trained at the acclaimed William Esper studio while holding down the requisite restaurant jobs. He auditioned steadily, landing guest spots on cop dramas and independent films like "Last Exit to Brooklyn" (1989) and "In the Soup" (1992), as well as joining downtown's LAByrinth theater company. In 1994, a lucrative beer commercial enabled Rockwell to put punch out on the restaurant clock for good. However, his career did not really take off until his off-center performance in Tom DeCillo's festival favorite "Box of Moonlight" (1996), in which he portrayed a whacked out, backwoods loner who helps enable the spiritual rebirth of staid engineer John Turturro. Though the insanity was in DeCillo's script, Rockwell dispatched it effortlessly, suddenly finding himself courted by directors impressed by his flair with "goofball misfit" characters.
Rockwell wrapped many projects within a year of "Box of Moonlight," including a starring role as a working-class landscaper who bonds with a wealthy 10-year-old girl (Mischa Barton) in "Lawn Dogs" (1997). The ease with which Rockwell portrayed a complex relationship between two characters that would seem to have nothing in common earned him Best Actor honors at both the Montreal World Film Festival and the Catalonian International Film Festival. He followed up with a pair of hilarious mob-gone-wrong comedies "Jerry and Tom" and "Safe Men" in 1998 before taking the stage for a two and half month run in a production of Mike Nichols' dark comedy, "Goose Pimples."
Rockwell's decade of independent films had led to comfortable "working actor" status, but now he began to get noticed by big-budget directors and Hollywood movie studios. First to the party was Woody Allen, who helped give Rockwell a boost with a bit part as an entourage member in "Celebrity" (1998). But it was Rockwell's chilling supporting role as "Wild Bill" Wharton in the Oscar-nominated "The Green Mile" (1999) that made audiences sit up and take notice of this new face at the cineplex. The film helped cement Rockwell's reputation for unpredictable, off-kilter characters, making him the go-to indie actor for Hollywood films that wanted some artistic street cred in their supporting cast. He did just that in "Galaxy Quest" (1999), playing a goofy struggling actor; and in "Charlie's Angels" (2000), in a turn as villainous software billionaire Eric Knox. Rockwell balanced his big-screen status with a return to the stage, appearing in "Dumb Waiter" and "Zoo Story" off Broadway and "Hot L Baltimore" at the Williamstown Theater in Cape Cod.
Rockwell was well on his way to household name status with George Clooney's directorial debut "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," (2002) in which he brilliantly played a funhouse mirror version game-show host-turned-self-proclaimed CIA assassin, Chuck Barris. In 2003, he was cast in the critic's pick "Matchstick Men" (2003), and singled out by critics for his scene-stealing appeal as the promising protégée of a phobia-addled con artist (Nicolas Cage). Rockwell enjoyed the unique honor of appearing in yet another film with "galaxy" in the title when he was cast as Zaphod Beetlebrox in "The Hitchhikers's Guide to the Galaxy" (2005), a British film based on the perennial favorite sci-fi books by Douglas Adams. Critics were split on the film overall, but it was an international box-office success and Sam turned out a memorable performance as the three-armed, flowing-haired president of the galaxy.
Back on earth and in New York, Rockwell was directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman in a critically acclaimed LAByrinth Theater production of "Judas Iscariot." The versatile and unpredictable actor did not disappoint on either account when he took on the unusually "normal" role of the father of a disturbed boy in the 2007 psychological thriller, "Joshua;" however the film appeared to be Rockwell's first misstep in Hollywood. He promptly returned to his element with the affecting drama "Snow Angels" (2007), nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, before inhabiting a Revolutionary war reenactor and con man in "Choke" (2008), based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk. In director Ron Howard's acclaimed "Frost/Nixon" (2008), he had a supporting part as journalist James Reston, Jr., which he followed with a starring role as a space-station employee suffering from isolation and loneliness in the moody sci-fi drama "Moon" (2009). After voicing team leader Darwin in the rather forgettable "G-Force" (2009), Rockwell portrayed rival weapons manufacturer to billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) in the hit sequel "Iron Man 2" (2010).
Following his modus operandi of alternating work in mainstream projects with roles in smaller, more demanding films, Rockwell was next seen in director Tony Goldwyn's based-on-fact drama "Conviction" (2010). For his unfiltered portrayal of Kenny Waters, a man wrongly convicted of a murder whose sister (Hilary Swank) worked tirelessly for decades to secure his release, the actor received a score of Best Supporting Actor nominations. Keeping with tradition, Rockwell popped up again in a big-budget blockbuster alongside Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Cast as a good-hearted saloon keeper who joins a posse in a desperate attempt to rescue his abducted wife, Rockwell gave a solid performance that was unfortunately not enough to lift the unwieldy "Cowboys & Aliens" (2011) above its one-note premise. Always attracted to somewhat unhinged characters, he was at his comically menacing best as Karl, the mercurial drug dealer out to collect a debt from Jonah Hill in the scatological adventure comedy "The Sitter" (2011). Despite his admirable contributions, "The Sitter" earned little but scorn from critics and indifference from audiences. The following year, writer-director Martin McDonagh's violent dark comedy "Seven Psychopaths" (2012) found Rockwell surrounded by a top-flight ensemble cast that included Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken. With a manic energy perfectly suited for the role of Billy - an out-of-work actor and part-time dog-napper - Rockwell's performance earned him an Indie Spirit Award nod for Best Supporting Male.
In 2013, Rockwell turned up as Owen, the quirky manager of a water park, in the well-received feel-good indie film "The Way Way Back," written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, the duo behind the Academy Award-winning script for "The Descendants" (2011). In sharp contrast to the ensemble comedy, which also starred Steve Carell and Liam James, Rockwell later starred in the tense crime drama "A Single Shot," with a tightly wound role that generated serious awards buzz.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Life Events
1978
Launched performing career at age of 10, appearing in a play with his mother
1988
Made his feature debut in the horror film "Clownhouse"; produced by Francis Ford Coppola
1989
Landed small part in "Last Exit to Brooklyn"
1990
TV debut in "Over the Limit," an ABC "Afterschool Special"
1990
Had a small part in "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"
1992
Appeared in Paul Schrader's "Light Sleeper"
1992
Made first feature with director Alexandre Rockwell, "In the Soup"
1994
Re-teamed with director Alexandre Rockwell for "Somebody to Love"
1995
Cast as one of two who kidnapped John Rubinstein in "Mercy"
1996
Delivered critically-acclaimed performance opposite John Turturo in Tom DiCillo's "Box of Moonlight"
1996
Played One-Eye Jimmy in "The Search for One-Eye Jimmy"; worked with John Turturo for the first time
1997
His working-class Trent mowed lawns and bonded with 10-year-old Devon in "Lawn Dogs"
1997
Appeared in HBO's "Subway Stories: Tales from the Underground"
1997
Won raves for his performance as a Cockney salesman in the off-Broadway production of "Goose-Pimples" by Mike Leigh
1998
Starred as Jerry opposite Joe Mantegna's Tom in "Jerry and Tom"
1999
Cast as a bumbling actor in the sci-fi satire "Galaxy Quest"
1999
Played psychotic killer and villain William 'Wild Bill' Wharton in "The Green Mile" opposite Tom Hanks
2000
Played villain Eric Knox in "Charlie's Angels"
2001
Appeared with Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito in the crime thriller "Heist"
2001
Acted in both "The Dumbwaiter" and "The Zoo Story" at the Williamstown Theatre Festival
2002
Played Pero is the Russo brothers' heist comedy "Welcome to Collinwood"
2002
Breakthrough role as controversial 'Gong Show' host, Chuck Barris in George Clooney's directorial debut, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind"
2003
Starred alongside Nicolas Cage in Ridley Scott's "Matchstick Men"
2005
Cast as Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed, ex-hippie President of the Galaxy in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
2007
Co-starred with Vera Farmiga in the Sundance screened "Joshua"
2007
Co-starred as Charlie Ford, Robert's brother, in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
2008
Portrayed James Reston Jr. in the film adaption of Peter Morgan's "Frost/Nixon"
2008
Played an estranged husband who tries to reconnect with his wife (Kate Beckinsale) in "Snow Angels"
2008
Cast as sex addict Victor Mancini in the film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's "Choke"
2009
Played an astronaut working alone in the sci-fi thriller "Moon"
2010
Cast as Tony Stark's rival Justin Hammer in Jon Favreau's "Iron Man 2"
2010
Played a man wrongly accused of a crime in "Conviction"
2011
Played a saloon owner in the sci-fi Western "Cowboys & Aliens"
2011
Cast opposite Jonah Hill in "The Sitter"
2012
Cast in ensemble crime comedy "Seven Psychopaths"
2013
Starred in the indie comedy "The Way Way Back"
2013
Starred in the crime thriller "A Single Shot"
2015
Co-starred in "Poltergeist" remake
2015
Began playing Vic on "F Is for Family"
2017
Co-starred with Frances McDormand and Woody Harrelson in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"
2017
Co-starred with Jessica Chastain and Ciarán Hinds in "Woman Walks Ahead"
2018
Cast in the Blaze Foley biopic "Blaze"
2018
Starred opposite Ben Schwartz in the action comedy "Blue Iguana"
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