Tim Blake Nelson

Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor, writer and director. His most famous roles include Delmar O'Donnell in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Dr. Pendanski in Holes (2003), Daniel "Danny" Dalton Jr. in Syriana(2005), and Dr. Samuel Sterns in The Incredible Hulk (2008), Richard Schell in Lincoln (2012), and Buster Scruggs in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018).
== Early life ==
Nelson was born to a Jewish family[2][3] in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth (née Kaiser) Nelson,[4][5] who is a noted social activist and philanthropist in Tulsa, and Don Nelson, a geologist/wildcatter.[6][7] His maternal uncle is businessman George Kaiser.[8]
His maternal grandparents, who were from Germany, escaped the Nazis shortly before World War II, moving to Britain in 1938, where Nelson's mother was born,[9] and immigrating to the United States in 1941.[10][11][12] His father's family were Russian Jewish emigrants.[13]
Nelson attended the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain Resort Arts and Conference Center in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma.[14]
Nelson is a 1982 graduate of Holland Hall School in Tulsa,[4] and a graduate of Brown University, where he was a Classics major as well as Senior Orator for his class of 1986. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Nelson won the Workman/Driskoll award for excellence in Classical Studies.[15] He graduated from Juilliard in 1990, a member of Group 19.[16]
== Career ==
Nelson's debut play, Eye of God, was produced at Seattle Repertory Theatre in 1992. The Grey Zone premiered at MCC Theater in New York in 1996, where his 1998 work Anadarko was produced. He was a co-star of the sketch comedy show The Unnaturals, which ran on HA! (later CTV, and would turn into Comedy Central) between 1989 and 1991, alongside Paul Zaloom, John Mariano and Siobhan Fallon Hogan.[17]
Nelson has appeared as an actor in film, TV and theatre. He had a featured role as Delmar in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?. According to directors Joel and Ethan Coen, he was the only one in the cast or crew who had read Homer's Odyssey, a story upon which the film is loosely based.[18] He sang "In the Jailhouse Now" on the film's soundtrack (which received a Grammy for Album of the Year in 2001). Nelson has gone on to act in a number of supporting performances in films such as Minority Report, Syriana and Lincoln. He also appeared in Marvel Comics adaptations The Incredible Hulk and Fantastic Four.
Nelson narrated the 2001 audiobook At the Altar of Speed: The Fast Life and Tragic Death of Dale Earnhardt, Sr.. He appeared on stage extensively off-Broadway in New York at theatres including Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Class Company, Soho Repertory Theater, New York Theater Workshop, and Central Park's Open Air Theater in the Shakespeare plays Richard III, Troilus and Cressida, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
He has directed film versions of his plays The Grey Zone and Eye of God (for which he received an Independent Spirit Awards nomination for the Someone to Watch Award), as well as writing and directing two original screenplays: 1998's Kansas and Leaves of Grass, which was released in 2009. He directed the film O, based on Othello and set in a modern-day high school.
For Eye of God, he received the Tokyo Bronze Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival (1997) and the American Independent Award at the Seattle International Film Festival (1997); for O, the Best Director Award at the Seattle International Film Festival (2001); and for The Grey Zone, the National Board of Review's Freedom of Expression Award (2002). He is on the Board of Directors for The Actors Center in New York City, as well as Soho Rep Theatre.[citation needed]
Nelson guest-starred on the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation season 10 episode "Working Stiffs". In the episode "My Brother's Bomber" (aired September 29, 2015) of the PBS investigative series Frontline, he talked about the loss of his friend David Dornstein in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.[19]
In 2018, Nelson played Buster Scruggs in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a western anthology film by Joel and Ethan Coen.[20] Nelson had received the original script sixteen years prior in 2002. The film was released on Netflix on November 16, after a limited theatrical run,[21] and received positive reviews from critics,[22][23] with many highlighting Nelson's performance and his overall segment.
== Personal life ==
Nelson resides in New York City with his wife, Lisa Benavides, and their three sons.[4] On May 8, 2009, he was inducted as an honorary member of the University of Tulsa's Beta of Oklahoma chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa national collegiate honor society.[24]
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year	Film 	Role 	Notes
1992	This Is My Life 	Dennis 	
1993	Motel Blue 19 	Adult Luther 	Uncredited voice
1994	Amateur 	Young Detective 	
1995	Heavyweights 	Roger Johnson 	
1996	Joe's Apartment 	Cockroach 	Voice
1997	Eye of God 	 	Director
1997	Donnie Brasco 	FBI Technician 	
1997	Prix Fixe 	Busboy 	Short film
1998	The Thin Red Line 	Pvt. Brian Tills 	
1998	Kanas 	 	Short film; director and writer
2000	Hamlet 	Flight captain 	
2000	O Brother, Where Art Thou? 	Delmar O'Donnell 	
2001	O 	 	Director
2001	The Grey Zone 	 	Director, writer, producer and editor
2002	The Good Girl 	Bubba 	
2002	Cherish 	Daly 	
2002	Minority Report 	Gideon 	
2003	A Foreign Affair 	Jake Adams 	Also executive producer
2003	Holes 	Dr. Kiowa "Mom" Pendanski	
2003	Wonderland 	Billy Deverell 	
2004	Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed	Dr. Johnathan Jacobo 	
2004	The Last Shot 	Marshal Paris 	
2004	Bereft 	Dennis 	
2004	Meet the Fockers 	Officer LeFlore 	
2005	The Amateurs 	Barney Macklehatton 	
2005	My Suicidal Sweetheart 	Various 	
2005	The Big White 	Gary 	
2005	Syriana 	Danny Dalton 	
2006	Come Early Morning 	Uncle Tim 	
2006	The Darwin Awards 	Perp 	
2006	Hoot 	Curly 	
2006	Fido 	Mr. Theopolis 	
2007	The Astronaut Farmer 	Kevin Munchak 	
2008	The Incredible Hulk 	Samuel Sterns 	
2008	American Violet 	David Cohen 	
2009	Saint John of Las Vegas 	Militant Ned 	
2009	Leaves of Grass 	Bolger 	Also director, writer and producer
2011	Flypaper 	Peanut Butter 	
2011	Yelling to the Sky 	Coleman 	
2011	Detachment 	Mr. Wiatt 	
2011	The Big Year 	Fuchs 	
2012	Big Miracle 	Pat Lafaytette 	
2012	Lincoln 	Richard Schell 	
2013	Blue Caprice 	Ray 	
2013	As I Lay Dying 	Anse 	
2013	Child of God 	Sheriff Fate 	
2013	Snake and Mongoose 	Mike McAllister 	
2014	The Homesman 	Freighter 	
2014	The Sound and the Fury 	Father 	
2014	Kill the Messenger 	Alan Fenster 	
2015	Anesthesia 	Adam Zarrow 	Also director, writer and producer
2015	Fantastic Four 	Dr. Allen 	
2016	The Confirmation 	Vaughn 	
2016	Colossal 	Garth 	
2016	Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk 	Wayne Pfister 	
2017	Deidra & Laney Rob a Train 	Truman 	
2017	The Vanishing of Sidney Hall 	Johan Tidemand 	
2017	The Institute 	Dr. Lemelle 	
2018	Monster 	Leroy Sawicki 	
2018	The Ballad of Buster Scruggs 	Buster Scruggs 	Segment: "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"
=== Television ===
Year 	Film 	Role 	Notes
1989–1991	The Unnaturals 	Recurring characters 	
1995 	House of Buggin' 	Kidnapper 	Episode: "The Paco Vasquez Story"
1996 	Dead Man's Walk 	Johnny Carthage 	3 episodes
2005 	Stella 	Mountain Man 	Episode: "Camping"
2005 	Warm Springs 	Tom Loyless 	Television film
2006 	Haskett's Chance 	 	Pilot; director
2009 	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Paulie Krill 	Episode: "Working Stiffs"
2011 	CHAOS 	Casey Malick 	13 episodes
2011 	Modern Family 	Hank 	Episode: "Dude Ranch"
2012–2015	Black Dynamite 	Chief McGillihorn (voice)	4 episodes
2014 	Klondike 	Meeker 	6 episodes
2015 	Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt 	Randy 	3 episodes
2015 	Z: The Beginning of Everything	 	Episode: "Pilot"; director
2017 	Wormwood 	Sidney Gottlieb 	4 episodes
2018 	Dallas & Robo 	The Woodsman (voice) 	8 episodes