# Noah Wyle

Noah Strausser Speer Wyle (/ˈwaɪli/; born June 4, 1971) is an American actor, producer, director, and writer. Since 2021 he has starred as lawyer Harry Wilson in Leverage: Redemption, a revival of Leverage (2008–2012). He is best known for his role as John Carter in the television series ER (1994–2009), which earned him nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards. He is also known for his roles as Flynn Carsen in The Librarian franchise and Tom Mason in the television series Falling Skies (2011–2015). He has appeared in films such as A Few Good Men (1992), Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999), Donnie Darko (2001), and W. (2008). In 2025 he starred as Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch in the Max medical drama The Pitt.
Wyle was nominated for a Critics' Choice Television Award for his role as Daniel Calder in the television miniseries The Red Line (2019).

## Early life

Wyle, the middle of three children, was born in Los Angeles, the son of Marjorie (née Speer), a registered orthopedic head nurse, and Stephen Wyle, an electrical engineer and entrepreneur. His father was Jewish (of Russian-Jewish descent), whereas his mother was Episcopalian, and he was raised "fairly nondenominationally", around both faiths. Wyle's parents divorced in the late 1970s, and his mother later married James C. Katz, a film restorationist with three children of his own from a previous marriage. Wyle's paternal grandparents, Edith and Frank Wyle, founded the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum, and his grandfather also founded Wyle Laboratories. Edith R. Wyle was an expressionist painter who also created The Egg and The Eye, a café and shop in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles.
Wyle was educated at The Thacher School in Ojai, California, and graduated with the class of 1989. Wyle participated in a Theatre Arts program at Northwestern University after his junior year of high school and appeared in high school plays, even winning an award for a play he wrote. Although he attended Northwestern University for a program in high school, he did not attend or graduate from college. He studied with acting teacher Larry Moss while living in a small apartment on Hollywood Boulevard.

## Career
### ER

Wyle's big break came when he was given the pilot script for ER and was cast as medical student John Carter. He was the youngest member when he joined the cast. Wyle was the only major cast member of ER to have been with the show since its inception (1994) when he left after its eleventh season (2005). His performances on the show earned him Emmy Award nominations in each of its first five seasons. As part of an ensemble he was nominated several times for the Screen Actors Guild Award, he was recognized with three Golden Globe nominations as Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television, and he won the 2001 TV Guide Award for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
Wyle left the series at the end of season 11, although he returned in guest appearances for a four-episode arc during season 12. He stated that he left because he wanted to spend more time with his family and friends and to make room for the upcoming generation. In 2009 Wyle returned to ER during its fifteenth and final season for five episodes, including the series finale.
According to the Guinness World Records 2005 Special 50th Anniversary Edition, Wyle became the holder of a "highest paid TV drama actor per episode" record during the 2003–2004 tenth season, earning approximately $400,000 per episode. While on ER, Wyle's estimated salary was $9 million a year. Wyle has also appeared in the most episodes of ER, 254, five more than Laura Innes.

### The Librarian

Wyle starred in the film The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004), launching what would become The Librarian franchise. Two sequels, The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines and The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice, were followed by a television series called The Librarians (2014-2018) which focuses on three additional new librarians who are brought into the library at a time of cataclysmic events.

### Film

Wyle was first seen in the Paul Bartel 1985 film Lust in the Dust (a western exploitation/parody which starred Tab Hunter, Lainie Kazan, and Divine) as an extra in the local gang running the small town of Chili Verde.
His later roles were a mini-series and featuring in the movie Crooked Hearts (1991) in 1990. In 1993 he appeared in another feature film, There Goes My Baby. After appearing in several local plays in Los Angeles, he was cast in the box-office hit A Few Good Men, in which he played a Marine jeep driver who testified in court. He also appeared in the feature Swing Kids as Emil Lutz, a leader in the Hitler Youth, and in the independent movie The Myth of Fingerprints with Roy Scheider, Blythe Danner, and Julianne Moore. Additionally, he starred as Lancelot opposite Sheryl Lee in the Television movie Guinevere.
His other work has included a critically acclaimed turn as Steve Jobs in the Emmy-nominated Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999). Steve Jobs was so impressed with the performance that he invited Wyle to step on stage as him at the opening of his annual speech at the Apple convention. He has also appeared in several feature films, including White Oleander opposite Renée Zellweger, Enough opposite Jennifer Lopez, the independent feature Donnie Darko, as the President's interpreter in the 2000 live-television production of Fail Safe, and in the independent film The Californians.
Wyle starred as the lead in TNT's sci-fi series Falling Skies (2011-2015), Wyle played Tom Mason, a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment, a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston while fighting aliens who have wiped out 90% of humanity. The character was also the father of three boys, one of whom was captured by the aliens. Wyle's performance earned him BuddyTV's #91 position on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011".
In 2019, he played Daniel Calder in the eight-part limited series The Red Line.

### Stage

Along with his film and television career, Wyle is also Artistic Producer of The Blank Theatre Company located in Hollywood, California. With the company, he has appeared on stage in the 1995 production of The 24th Day with Peter Berg, The Why (as part of the company's Young Playwrights Festival), and Lobster Alice, opposite Nicholas Brendon, where he played the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí.
For his work as one of the producers of 2005 Los Angeles Production of Michael John LaChiusa's The Wild Party, he won an NAACP Theatre Award.

## Personal life

Noah met his first wife, make-up artist Tracy Warbin, on the set of The Myth of Fingerprints. They married in 2000 and have a son, Owen Strausser Speer Wyle (born November 9, 2002), and a daughter, Auden Wyle (born October 15, 2005). Wyle and Warbin separated in 2009 and divorced in 2010.
Wyle married Sara Wells in June 2014 in California. The couple met in 2011 during a production at The Blank Theatre Company. Their daughter Frances Harper Wyle was born on June 22, 2015.

## Political advocacy and philanthropy

Wyle opened the 1999 NY Macworld Expo keynote, initially posing as Apple Inc.'s Steve Jobs. It was a practical joke on the audience, engineered by Jobs and Wyle in light of the 1999 TNT film Pirates of Silicon Valley.
Wyle devotes much of his free time to the international non-profit organization Doctors of the World and to his work as a member of the Human Rights Watch Council. Wyle also serves as the voluntary artistic producer of the Blank Theatre Company in Hollywood, which stages an annual young playwrights festival and whose alumni include Ed Asner, Sarah Michelle Gellar, D. B. Sweeney, James Kerwin, Amber Benson, Megan Henning, Travis Schuldt, Warren Davis, Grant Show, and Nicholas Brendon. He also recently acquired Second Stage Theater (Los Angeles) in Hollywood, where the company has mounted numerous successful productions.
Wyle was the spokesperson for the Cover the Uninsured campaign in 2004, which had as Honorary Co-Chairs former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. The Cover the Uninsured Week is annually held in the United States of America and focuses attention on the nearly 44 million Americans who go without health care coverage. The campaign includes several events among different communities, health and enrollment fairs, press conferences, and business seminars all over the U.S. Additionally, Wyle is a supporter of animal rights and a spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund, dedicated to protecting and conserving wildlife for future generations.
In 2009, Wyle became a spokesperson for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), saying that polar bears are "hanging on by a thread" and "may be extinct in our children's lifetime, due to the effects of climate change."
In 2012, Wyle supported the disability rights group ADAPT. On April 23, he was arrested during a protest on Capitol Hill to fight against Medicaid cuts for the elderly and people with disabilities.
Just after Donald Trump won the 2016 general election, Wyle along with other actors participated in a video released by Unite for America, making a heartfelt appeal to the Republican presidential electors of the Electoral College to swing their votes away from President-elect Donald Trump so the House of Representatives could select what Wyle and others referred to as a qualified candidate for the presidency. This was all to prevent Trump from officially becoming President of the United States. The video was presented on national television and YouTube.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1991 | Crooked Hearts | Ask | |
| 1992 | A Few Good Men | Cpl. Jeffrey Barnes | |
| 1993 | Swing Kids | Emil Lutz | |
| 1994 | There Goes My Baby | Michael Finnegan | |
| 1997 | The Myth of Fingerprints | Warren | Also associate producer |
| 1999 | Can't Stop Dancing | Poe | |
| 1999 | Pirates of Silicon Valley | Steve Jobs | |
| 2001 | Donnie Darko | Prof. Kenneth Monnitoff | |
| 2001 | Scenes of the Crime | Seth | |
| 2002 | Enough | Robbie | |
| 2002 | White Oleander | Mark Richards | |
| 2005 | The Californians | Gavin Ransom | |
| 2008 | Nothing But the Truth | Avril Aaronson | |
| 2008 | An American Affair | Mike Stafford | |
| 2008 | W. | Donald Evans | |
| 2010 | Below the Beltway | Hunter Patrick | |
| 2010 | Queen of the Lot | Aaron Lambert | |
| 2013 | Snake & Mongoose | Arthur Spear | |
| 2015 | The World Made Straight | Leonard Shuler | |
| 2017 | Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House | Stan Pottinger | |
| 2017 | Shot | Mark Newman | |

### Television
#### Acting

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1990 | Blind Faith | Eric | Miniseries; 2 episodes |
| 1994 | Guinevere | Lancelot | Television film |
| 1994–2009 | ER | Dr. John Carter | Main role (seasons 1–11 and 15); guest star (season 12) |
| 1995 | Friends | Dr. Jeffrey Rosen | Episode: "The One with Two Parts: Part 2" |
| 1995 | The Larry Sanders Show | Himself | Episode: "Eight" |
| 1996 | Sesame Street | Dr. Colburn | 2 episodes: "Maria Goes To The Hospital" |
| 1999 | Pirates of Silicon Valley | Steve Jobs | Television film |
| 1999 | Save Our History: America's Most Endangered 1999 | Himself | Host |
| 2000 | Fail Safe | Buck | Television film |
| 2000 | Beggars and Choosers | Davis G. Green | Episode: "The Naked Truth" |
| 2004 | The Librarian: Quest for the Spear | Flynn Carsen | Television film |
| 2006 | The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines | Flynn Carsen | Television film; also producer |
| 2008 | The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice | Flynn Carsen | Television film; also producer |
| 2011–2015 | Falling Skies | Tom Mason | Main role; also producer and director |
| 2013 | Lab Rats | Dr. Evans | Episode: "Twas the Mission Before Christmas" |
| 2014 | Phineas and Ferb | Martin the news vendor (voice) | Episode: "Night of the Living Pharmacists" |
| 2014–2018 | The Librarians | Flynn Carsen | Recurring role; also executive producer, writer and director |
| 2015 | Drunk History | Thomas Nast | Episode: "Journalism" |
| 2016 | Angie Tribeca | Lewis Alcindor | Episode: "Organ Trail" |
| 2018 | The Romanoffs | Ivan | Episode: "The Royal We" |
| 2019 | The Red Line | Daniel Calder | Main role |
| 2019–2020 | 25 Words or Less | Himself | 3 episodes |
| 2021–present | Leverage: Redemption | Harry Wilson | Main role; also writer and director |
| 2025 | The Pitt | Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch | Main role, also writer and executive producer |

#### Crew

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2006 | The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines | Producer | Television film |
| 2008 | The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice | Producer | Television film |
| 2012–2015 | Falling Skies | Director/producer | Episode: "Stalag 14th Virginia" |
| 2014–2018 | The Librarians | Director/writer/executive producer | Episodes: "And the Hollow Men" "And the Reunion of Evil" "And the Eternal Question" "And the Christmas Thief" "And the Hidden Sanctuary" |
| 2021–2022 | Leverage: Redemption | Director/writer | Episodes: "The Tower Job" "The Unwellness Job" "The Golf Job" "The Walk in the Woods Job" "The Pyramid Job" |
| 2025 | The Pitt | Writer/executive producer | |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1995 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1995 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1995 | Viewers for Quality Television | Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1996 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1996 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 1997 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | ER | Nominated |
| 1997 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1997 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 1997 | Viewers for Quality Television | Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1998 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | ER | Nominated |
| 1998 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1998 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 1998 | Viewers for Quality Television | Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1999 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | ER | Nominated |
| 1999 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 1999 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 1999 | Teen Choice Awards | Choice TV Actor | ER | Nominated |
| 2000 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 2001 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | ER | Nominated |
| 2003 | Prism Awards | Performance in a Drama Series | ER | Won |
| 2005 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | The Librarian: Quest for the Spear | Nominated |
| 2007 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines | Nominated |
| 2009 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice | Nominated |
| 2011 | Teen Choice Awards | Choice Summer TV Star: Male | Falling Skies | Nominated |
| 2012 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | Falling Skies | Nominated |
| 2014 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | Falling Skies | Nominated |
| 2015 | Saturn Awards | Best Actor on Television | Falling Skies | Nominated |
| 2020 | Critics' Choice Television Award | Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television | The Red Line | Nominated |