John Carroll Lynch

John Carroll Lynch
Lynch in 2017
Born	(1963-08-01) August 1, 1963 (age 61) Boulder, Colorado, U.S.
Education	Catholic University (BFA)
Occupation(s)	Actor, director, screenwriter
Years active	1990–present
Spouse	Brenda Wehle ​ (m. 1997)​

John Carroll Lynch (born August 1, 1963)^[1] is an American character actor and film director. He first gained notice for his role as Norm Gunderson in Fargo (1996). He is also known for his television work on the ABC sitcom The Drew Carey Show (1997–2004) as the title character's cross-dressing brother, Steve Carey, as well as on four seasons of American Horror Story (2014–2019), most notably as breakout character Twisty the Clown. His films include Face/Off (1997), Zodiac (2007), Gran Torino (2008), Shutter Island (2010), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), Ted 2 (2015), The Invitation (2015), The Founder (2016), and The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). He made his directorial debut with the 2017 film Lucky.

Early life

Lynch was born in Boulder, Colorado.^[1] He attended Regis Jesuit High School in Denver. He studied theater at The Catholic University of America, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1986.^[2]

Career

Lynch was a member of the Guthrie Theater company. He starred in several productions, toured with the company and worked there for over eight seasons.^[3][4]

Lynch made his feature film debut in Grumpy Old Men (1993). He gained notice in a supporting role as Norm Gunderson in the Coen brothers' film Fargo (1996). His other notable films are Face/Off (1997), Bubble Boy (2001), Gothika (2003), Things We Lost in the Fire (2007), Gran Torino (2008), Shutter Island (2010), Paul (2011) and Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011). He portrayed Arthur Leigh Allen in Zodiac (2007) and the first establisher of McDonald's, Mac McDonald, in The Founder (2016).

Lynch has also had an extensive career in television. He appeared in ABC sitcom The Drew Carey Show as the title character's cross-dressing brother, Steve Carey. He has also been a regular cast member on series such as Close to Home, Carnivàle, Body of Proof and seasons 4, 5, 7 and 9 of American Horror Story.

In 2018, Lynch was cast in the lead role of Bud Carl in the CBS All Access drama One Dollar.^[5] The series was cancelled after one season. In 2020, Lynch plays the lead role of Rick Legarski in the ABC crime drama series Big Sky, created by David E. Kelley.^[6] After his character was killed off, he resurfaced as Wolf Legarski, Rick's twin brother. He also co-starred in Aaron Sorkin's acclaimed film The Trial of the Chicago 7, as activist David Dellinger.

Personal life

Lynch has been married to actress Brenda Wehle (also a former member of the Guthrie Theatre Company) since 1997.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Grumpy Old Men	Moving Man
1995	The Cure	Skipper #1	Credited as John Lynch
1996	Beautiful Girls	Frank Womack
	Fargo	Norm Gunderson
	Feeling Minnesota	Cop
1997	Volcano	Stan Olber
	Face/Off	Prison Guard Walton
	A Thousand Acres	Ken LeSalle
1998	Mercury Rising	Martin Lynch
	The Naked Man	Sticks' Driver
	Restaurant	John English
1999	Anywhere but Here	Jack Irwin
	The Minus Man	Bartender	Uncredited cameo
	Pushing Tin	Doctor Freeze
	Freak Weather	Ed
2000	Waking the Dead	Father Mileski
	Gone in 60 Seconds	Impound Manager	Uncredited cameo
2001	Bubble Boy	Mr. Livingston
2002	The Good Girl	Jack Field
	Bug	Wallace Gregory
	Three Days of Rain	Dinner Guest
2003	Gothika	Sheriff Ryan
	Confidence	Leon Ashby
2004	Catch That Kid	Mr. Hartmunn
2005	Mozart and the Whale	Gregory
	Trust the Man	Doctor	Scene deleted
	Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World	Stewart
2007	Full of It	Mr. Leonard
	Zodiac	Arthur Leigh Allen
	Things We Lost in the Fire	Howard Glassman
2008	Gran Torino	Barber Martin
2009	Love Happens	Walter
2010	Sympathy for Delicious	Evangelist Carroll
	Shutter Island	Deputy Warden McPherson
	Hesher	Larry
2011	Paul	Moses Buggs
	Crazy, Stupid, Love	Bernie Riley
2012	Lay the Favorite	Dave Greenberg
2013	The Pretty One	Frank
2014	Camp X-Ray	Col. James Drummond
2015	Hot Pursuit	Captain Emmett
	Ted 2	Tom Jessup
	The Invitation	Pruitt
2016	Miracles from Heaven	Pastor Scott
	Jackie	Lyndon B. Johnson
	The Founder	Mac McDonald
	Shangri-La Suite	Colonel Tom Parker
2017	Lucky	—	Directorial debut
	Anything	Early Landry
2018	Private Life	Charlie
	White Orchid	Sheriff Mann
2019	The Highwaymen	Lee Simmons
2020	Kiss Me Before It Blows Up	Ron Shalev
	The Trial of the Chicago 7	David Dellinger
2024	Outlaw Posse	Carson
	Babes	Dr. Morris
2025	Sorry, Baby[7]		Post-production
TBA	She Rides Shotgun	TBA	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Frasier	Actor playing Franklin	Episode: "The Show Where Diane Comes Back"
	Murder One	Officer Carl Bickley	Episode: "Chapter Thirteen"
	The Client	Frank	Episode: "Damn Yankees"
	Voice from the Grave	Prosecutor O'Gane	Television film
	A Friend's Betrayal	Mr. Franks	Television film
1996, 1997	Life's Work	District Attorney Agee / Crazy Larry	2 episodes
1997–2004	The Drew Carey Show	Steve Carey	Main role (seasons 6–8), recurring role (seasons 3–5), guest (season 9), 72 episodes
1997	The Practice	Dr. Robert Larson	Episode: "Search and Seizure"
	The Visitor	Joe York	Episode: "Going Home"
1998	From the Earth to the Moon	Robert R. Gilruth	2 episodes
1999	Star Trek: Voyager	Gerald Moss	Episode: "11:59"
	Late Last Night	Sgt. Van Wyck	Television film
	Tuesdays with Morrie	Walter Moran	Television film
2000	The Fugitive	Raynor	Episode: "Pilot"
	The West Wing	Jack	Episode: "Galileo"
2001	Gideon's Crossing	Sonny Green	Episode: "The Race"
2002	Live from Baghdad	John Holliman	Television film
2003	The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire	Mayor Garrett Shaw	7 episodes
2005	Carnivàle	Varlyn Stroud	12 episodes
	American Dad!	Mr. Simms (voice)	Episode: "Stannie Get Your Gun"
2005–2006	Close to Home	Steve Sharpe	Main role
2007–2008	K-Ville	Captain James Embry	Main role
2007	Big Love	Officer Chuck Tuttle	2 episodes
2009	Lie to Me	Mr. Reed	Episode: "Truth or Consequences"
	Monk	Kurt Pressman	Episode: "Happy Birthday, Mr. Monk"
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation	Buddy Arnold	Episode: "Bloodsport"
2010	How to Make It in America	Larry	Episode: "Keep on Truck'n"
2010–2012	The Glades	Mike Ogletree	2 episodes
2011–2013	Body of Proof	Bud Morris	Main role
2013	Do No Harm	Will Hayes	10 episodes
2013–2014	Comedy Bang! Bang!	Ned Dooley	2 episodes
2014	House of Lies	Gil Selby	2 episodes
	The Americans	Fred	6 episodes
	Manhattan	Daniel Ellis	2 episodes
	Us & Them	Ed	Episode: "Coeds & Carburetors"
2014–2015	American Horror Story: Freak Show	Twisty the Clown	5 episodes
2015	The Walking Dead	Eastman	Episode: "Here's Not Here"
2015–2016	American Horror Story: Hotel	John Wayne Gacy	2 episodes
2016	Billions	Mr. Gilbert	Episode: "The Punch"
2016–2017	Turn: Washington's Spies	James Rivington	8 episodes
2017	American Horror Story: Cult	Twisty the Clown	2 episodes
	Channel Zero: The No-End House	John Sleator	6 episodes
2018	The Handmaid's Tale	Dan	Episode: "Unwomen"
	Crawford	Owen	12 episodes
	One Dollar	Bud Carl	Main role
	The Good Cop	Sherman Smalls	Episode: "Who Is the Ugly German Lady?"
2019	Veep	Lloyd Hennick	3 episodes
	American Horror Story: 1984	Benjamin Richter / Mr. Jingles	9 episodes
2019–2020	Perfect Harmony	Pastor Magnus	3 episodes
2020–2022	Big Sky	Rick Legarski / Wolf Legarski	22 episodes
2021	American Horror Stories	Larry Bitterman	Episode: "Drive In"
2022	Gaslit	L. Patrick Gray	4 episodes
2023	White House Plumbers	John N. Mitchell	2 episodes
2024	Evil	Henry Stick	Episode: "Fear of the Future"

Awards and nominations

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2016	Saturn Awards	Best Guest Starring Role on Television	The Walking Dead	Nominated	[8]
2017	Fangoria Chainsaw Awards	Best Supporting Actor	The Invitation	Nominated	[9]
	Camerimage	Directors' Debuts Competition	Lucky	Nominated	[10]
	Chicago Film Critics Association	Most Promising Filmmaker		Nominated	[11]
	Haifa International Film Festival	Carmel Award for Best Film		Nominated	[12]
		Fedeora Award - Directors of Tomorrow		Won	[13]
	Locarno Festival	Golden Leopard		Nominated	[14]
		Prize of the Ecumenical Jury		Won
	Satellite Awards	Special Achievement Award for Best First Feature		Won	[15]
	Los Angeles Film Festival	Special Mention for Acting	Anything	Won	[16]
2021	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	The Trial of the Chicago 7	Won	[17]

References

1. Matthew Tobey (2014). "John Carroll Lynch". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014.
2. "Alumni Relations: Arts & Entertainment". The Catholic University of America. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
3. "John Carroll Lynch lands juicy role in 'Freak Show'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
4. "John Carroll Lynch". Guthrie Theater. Archived from the original on June 30, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
5. Andreeva, Nellie (March 6, 2018). "'$1': John Carroll Lynch & Philip Ettinger To Star, Jeff Perry, Sturgill Simpson & Leslie Odom Jr. To Recur On CBS All Access Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
6. Andreeva, Nellie (February 12, 2020). "'The Big Sky': John Carroll Lynch Cast In David E. Kelley's PI Drama Series For ABC". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
7. Sundance Film Festival Lineup 2025 Movies
8. Bryant, Jacob (February 24, 2016). "'Star Wars,' 'Mad Max,' 'Walking Dead' Lead Saturn Awards Nominations". Variety. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
9. "Never mind Oscar, here's the 2017 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards Nominees Ballot!". FANGORIA®. Archived from the original on February 8, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
10. "Directors' Debuts Competition". Camerimage.pl.
11. ""Lady Bird," "Call Me By Your Name" win big for Chicago film critics". Chicago Film Critics Association. Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
12. "Carmel Competition - International Film Competition 2017". Haifaff.co.il.
13. "Best Israeli Feature Film Award – "The Testament"". Haifaff.co.il.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
14. "Locarno Festival on Twitter". Twitter.
15. Pond, Steve (November 28, 2017). "'Dunkirk,' 'The Shape of Water' Lead Satellite Award Nominations".
16. Kilday, Gregg (June 22, 2017). "Los Angeles Film Festival Unveils Winners". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
17. "See the 2021 Screen Actors Guild Award winners". EW.com. Retrieved April 5, 2021.

External links

• John Carroll Lynch at IMDb