Oliver Platt

**Oliver James Platt** (born January 12, 1960) is a Canadian-American actor. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award, as well as Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Awards. 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".[15] After *Married to the Mob*, he appeared in *Working Girl* (1988), *Flatliners* (1990), *Beethoven* (1992), *The Three Musketeers* (1993), *A Time to Kill* (1996), *Executive Decision* (1996), and *Bulworth* (1998).[16] In 1998 Platt and Stanley Tucci played two deadbeat actors who improvise with unsuspecting strangers in *The Impostors*.[17] Tucci and Platt developed the characters while working on a play at Yale University in 1988, with Tucci later completing the screenplay and directing the film.[17]

In 1999, Platt played the wealthy and eccentric crocodile enthusiast Hector in David E. Kelley's *Lake Placid*, alongside Bill Pullman and Bridget Fonda.[18] 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 huntersort of guy, but when I signed on for the role he sort of wrote him in a different direction."[18]

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.[19] 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.[15][19] 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.[15] He received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of no-nonsense White House Counsel Oliver Babish,[15] brought in during season two to compile a defense for President Bartlet and others who covered up his non-disclosure of multiple sclerosis.[20]

His role in the television series *Huff* as Russell Tupper from 2004 to 2006 was well-received, especially by creator Bob 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".[15] Platt's work was nominated for two Emmy awards and a Golden Globe.[15][21]

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.[22] He also played a lard merchant named Papprizzio in Lasse Hallström's *Casanova*, who competes with Casanova (Heath Ledger) for marriage to Francesca (Sienna Miller).[22] Platt won the New York Film Critics Online Award for best supporting actor for his role in *Casanova*.[23]

A Broadway production named *Shining City* was Platt's Broadway debut in 2006.[15] The play was set in Dublin, and Platt's role was the tortured protagonist, John.[15] *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."[15] Platt visited Dublin to prepare for the role and ensure his performance was authentic.[15] He was nominated for a Tony award for "Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play".[24]

In 2007, Platt played the part of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in the ESPN mini-series *The Bronx Is Burning*.[25] 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."[12] Platt starred in the pilot episode of *The Thick of It*, a remake of the British show of the same name in 2007.[21] The series was not picked up by ABC.[21]

Platt starred as Nathan Detroit, alongside Lauren Graham as Miss Adelaide, in the Broadway revival of *Guys and Dolls* which began performances at the Nederlander Theatre on February 3, 2009, and officially opened on March 1, 2009.[26] The production closed on June 14, 2009, after 113 performances.[27]

Platt starred as the White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser in Roland Emmerich's *2012*, a disaster film released November 13, 2009.

Platt played the High Priest in the Harold Ramis film *Year One* released in 2009. In August 2010, he was cast in the role of "The Man in Black" in 2011's *X-Men* spin-off, *X-Men: First Class*, directed by Matthew Vaughn.[28] In 2012, he starred in the romantic comedy *The Oranges* alongside Hugh Laurie and Leighton Meester[29] and appeared in the action film *Chinese Zodiac*. He provided the voice of Wiser the Owl in the 2013 animated film *Dorothy of Oz*.[30] He appeared in Miramax's 2016 supernatural thriller, *The 9th Life of Louis Drax*.[31]