Bradley Whitford — Movies, TV Shows & Roles

Producer · Actor

1959-10-10 · Madison, Wisconsin, USA · Male

60 series in the catalog

Bradley Whitford (born October 10, 1959) is an American actor and producer. From 1999 to 2006, Whitford starred as Josh Lyman, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, in NBC's political drama television series The West Wing. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the role in 2001.
In addition to The West Wing, Whitford played Danny Tripp in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Dan Stark in the Fox police buddy-comedy The Good Guys, Timothy Carter, a character who was believed to be Red John, in the CBS series The Mentalist, antagonist Eric Gordon in the film Billy Madison, Arthur Parsons in The Post, Dean Armitage in the horror film Get Out, Roger Peralta in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, President Gray in the dystopian science fiction film The Darkest Minds and Rick Stanton in the monster film Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
In 2015, he won a second Primetime Emmy Award for his guest role as Marcy in Transparent and later garnered a fifth Primetime Emmy Award nomination for portraying Magnus Hirschfeld in the same series. From 2018 to 2025, Whitford portrayed Commander Joseph Lawrence in Hulu dystopian drama The Handmaid's Tale, for which he won his third Primetime Emmy Award in 2019.
Early life and education
Bradley Whitford was born in Madison, Wisconsin, to Genevieve Louie (née Smith) and George Van Norman Whitford. Between the ages of three and 14, he lived in Wayne, Pennsylvania. He grew up in a Quaker household. In an appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark on October 13, 2025, he said, "I am from a strange family. My parents... they lived very long lives... It would have been their 89th (wedding) anniversary... I have a sister, same parents, 85 years old, 19 or 20 years older than me. They (his parents) had three (children). (Ten years later they had) my brother Dave... I grew up watching my older siblings raise families." His mother, a poet, later lived in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia.
Whitford graduated from Madison East High School in Madison in 1977. He majored in English and theater at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and was a roommate of producer Paul Schiff, the brother of his future West Wing cast mate Richard Schiff. Whitford graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1981. He then studied drama at the Juilliard School in Manhattan, New York where he was a member of "Group 14". Wendell Pierce, an actor is also from Group 14.
The NBC series Who Do You Think You Are? explored Whitford's ancestry in an August 2022 episode, including ancestors who fought in a crucial American Civil War battle, the Battle of Vicksburg.
Career
Whitford first appeared on television in a 1985 episode of The Equalizer, followed by a two-year recurring role on the ABC daytime drama All My Children. His film debut was in the 1986 film Dead as a Doorman. He made his Broadway theatre debut in 1990 playing Lt. Jack Ross (followed a few months later in the lead role of Lt. Daniel Kaffee), in the Aaron Sorkin written play A Few Good Men. This was the beginning of a recurring working relationship between Whitford and Sorkin.
Whitford's film roles during the 1980s and 1990s included Elisabeth Shue's boyfriend Mike Todwell in Adventures in Babysitting (1987), Roger Latimer in Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987), Jamie Kemp in Presumed Innocent (1990), Charles Phalen in Young Guns II (1990), Dr. Tyler in Awakenings (1990), Al Pacino's nephew Randy Slade in Scent of a Woman (1992), FBI sharpshooter Bobby Lee in A Perfect World (1993), lawyer Jamey Collins in Philadelphia (1993), Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Fink in The Client (1994), antagonist Eric Gordon in Billy Madison (1995), and Lloyd Charney in Bicentennial Man (1999). His television appearances during this time included Guiding Light, NYPD Blue, Ellen, The X-Files, Touched by an Angel, and a guest appearance on ER in the Emmy Award-winning episode "Love's Labor Lost".
Whitford joined the cast of Sorkin's The West Wing as Josh Lyman with the show's premiere in 1999. For his role, he won an Emmy Award in 2001 for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Whitford also wrote two episodes of the series ("Faith Based Initiative" in the sixth season and "Internal Displacement" in the seventh). After The West Wing ended in May 2006, Whitford appeared in Sorkin's later series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip playing the role of Danny Tripp. He appeared in the British drama Burn Up on the BBC in July 2008.
He starred in the play Boeing-Boeing which opened on Broadway on May 4, 2008. He co-starred in the Joss Whedon/Drew Goddard horror film The Cabin in the Woods, filmed in 2009 but not released until April 2012. In 2010, Whitford starred as Dan Stark in the Fox TV comedy The Good Guys opposite Colin Hanks. In 2011, Whitford guest-starred in In Plain Sight on USA Network as a man combating paranoia. He appeared in the season three finale of The Mentalist as a minion of and decoy for "Red John", the long-sought nemesis of the show's protagonist Patrick Jane. Whitford appeared on Law & Order: Los Angeles as a lawyer. On September 15, 2011, he starred in the one-night-only staged reading of 8, a play written by Dustin Lance Black chronicling the events of a trial surrounding California's Proposition 8.
In 2013, Whitford played Pete Harrison in the ABC comedy Trophy Wife, which was canceled after one season. Also in the same year, he played Don DaGradi in Saving Mr. Banks. In 2014, he appeared in a recurring role as a cross-dressing businessman during the first season of the Amazon Studios series Transparent. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance. He returned during the series' second season as Magnus Hirschfeld. In February 2014, it was announced that he was cast in Midnight Rider, a biopic of Gregg Allman directed by Randall Miller. Starting in 2015, Whitford had a recurring role in Brooklyn Nine-Nine as Roger Peralta, father of a lead character Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg). In 2017, Whitford played Dean Armitage, a father and neurosurgeon, in the horror film Get Out and antagonist Arthur Parsons in the political thriller The Post.
In 2018, Whitford played President Gray in the dystopian science fiction film The Darkest Minds. He joined the cast of the web dystopian tragedy The Handmaid's Tale as Commander Joseph Lawrence, guest starring in the final two episodes of the second season. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2019 for his performance becoming the first person to have won the guest acting Emmy Awards for both comedy and drama. He returned as a series regular for the third season and received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. In 2019, Whitford played Rick Stanton in the monster film Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and from 2019 to 2020, he starred in the musical comedy series Perfect Harmony, which ran for one season on NBC.
In August 2023, he portrayed Francis in the Los Angeles production of Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
Personal life
Whitford married actress Jane Kaczmarek in August 1992 and they have three children together. Inspired by their own frequent red carpet appearances, in 2002 the couple founded the charity "Clothes off our Back", which auctioned outfits and accessories worn by celebrities at award ceremonies. They were sometimes referred to as a celebrity "power couple".
In May 2007, Whitford was honored by Alliance for Justice, a nonprofit organization, as the 2007 Champion of Justice. He delivered the commencement address at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2004. He was the keynote speaker for Class Day at Princeton University in June 2007. As of 2012, Whitford serves on the board of trustees of his alma mater, Wesleyan University.
In June 2009, Whitford and Kaczmarek announced that they were divorcing after almost 17 years of marriage. The divorce was finalized in…