Emmerich was born in New York City, New York. His mother, Constance, is a concert pianist; his father, André Emmerich (1924–2007), was a gallery owner and art dealer. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, André emigrated from Nazi Germany with his family, first to Amsterdam, Netherlands, then to New York in 1940.[1][2][3] His aunt was a classmate of Anne Frank.[4] Emmerich's family is Jewish, from Germany and France on his father's side and Hungary and Romania on his mother's.[1][5][6] He has two older brothers: Toby Emmerich, a screenwriter and former chairman of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group; and Adam Emmerich, a partner at the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York, specializing in mergers and acquisitions.[7]
Noah Emmerich attended the Dalton School and learned to play the trumpet as a youth.[1] He privately studied the Meisner technique of acting under Ron Stetston, an actor/director who is currently a senior member of the acting staff at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. Emmerich graduated from Yale University in 1987 having received a bachelor's degree in history. He sang in the "Yale Spizzwinks(?)", an a cappella singing group[8] which also included actor Joshua Malina.
Career
Film
Emmerich had his first starring role in the film Beautiful Girls,[9] which earned him positive reviews from audiences and critics. He had supporting roles in such movies as The Truman Show,[10]Life and Frequency.
His most notable TV series role role was that of FBI AgentStan Beeman on the FX series The Americans.[18] The series earned positive reviews, and Emmerich earned a Critics' Choice Award nomination for his performance.[19] It ran for six seasons, ending in May, 2018.[20] Emmerich made his directorial debut on season 3's episode 7, "Walter Taffet",[21] and also directed episode 5 of season 4.
In September 2019, he starred in Netflix's limited series The Spy as the Israeli Mossad recruiting agent Dan Peleg.[22]
On October 23, 2019, it was announced that he was cast as Kick Grabaston in the Netflix comedy series Space Force.[23][24]