Tom Noonan
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Short description|American actor and director}}
{{Other people|Tom Noonan}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Tom Noonan
| image = 10.17.09TomNoonanByLuigiNovi.jpg
| caption = Noonan in 2009
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|4|12}}
| birth_place = Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
| years_active = 1978–present
| spouse = {{marriage|Karen Young|1992|1999|reason=div.}}
| children = 2
| relatives = John Ford Noonan (brother)
}}
Tom Noonan (born April 12, 1951) is an American actor, director, and screenwriter, best known for his roles as Francis Dollarhyde in Manhunter (1986), Frankenstein's Monster in The Monster Squad (1987), Cain in RoboCop 2 (1990), The Ripper in Last Action Hero (1993), Sammy Barnathan in Synecdoche, New York (2008), Mr. Ulman in The House of the Devil (2009), Reverend Nathaniel in Hell on Wheels (2011–2014), the Pallid Man in 12 Monkeys (2015–2018) and as the voice of everyone else in Anomalisa (2015).
Noonan is also a writer and director of theatre and film. His debut feature film What Happened Was (1994) won the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Early life
Noonan was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, the son of Rita (McGannon), a mathematics teacher, and John Noonan Sr., a jazz musician and doctor of dental surgery.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/21/Tom-Noonan.html |title=Tom Noonan Biography (1951-) |publisher=Filmreference.com |access-date=July 20, 2012}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/obituaries/john-ford-noonan-dead.html|title=John Ford Noonan, 'Coupla White Chicks' Playwright, Dies at 77|first=Neil|last=Genzlinger|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 19, 2018|accessdate=July 12, 2021}} He had an older brother, John Ford Noonan, a playwright,{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800093092/bio |title=Tom Noonan Biography - Yahoo! Movies |publisher=Movies.yahoo.com |date=April 20, 2011 |access-date=July 20, 2012}} and two sisters, Barbara and Nancy. Noonan was a very talented basketball player, and said "playing basketball is how I learned to perform in a lot of ways. It's how I got interested in performing... I never acted as a kid. I never did school plays. I never acted until I was 27...you learn a lot when you're in front of people and you've got a crowd going and you're doing something that you love to do. A lot of the skills that you would need for acting come through that... It's like a life and death struggle in front of people that you hope to impress."{{Cite web|url=http://stumpedmagazine.com/interviews/tom-noonan.html|title=Tom Noonan Interview|website=Stumped Magazine|date=March 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314111146/http://stumpedmagazine.com/interviews/tom-noonan.html|accessdate=July 12, 2021|archive-date=March 14, 2012}}
Career
Noonan started working in theatre (appearing in the original Off-Broadway production of Sam Shepard's play Buried Child), but in the 1980s he began working in film. At {{height|ft=6|in=5}} tall, Noonan's imposing presence is probably responsible for his tendency to be cast as menacing villains, as in RoboCop 2, Last Action Hero, Manhunter, and The Pledge. His height was used for comic effect in "The Moving Finger," the series finale of the horror anthology Monsters (several episodes of which he also directed and wrote).
In 1986, Noonan played Francis Dollarhyde, a serial killer who kills entire families, in Michael Mann's Manhunter, the first movie to feature Hannibal Lecter. Another supporting role, and another collaboration with Mann was in 1995, as Kelso in Heat. He also played the Frankenstein monster in The Monster Squad. During the 1990s, he wrote various plays, including two that he made into movies, What Happened Was... (1994) and The Wife (1995). In the 2000s, Noonan appeared in various other movies, including a widely praised role as Sammy Barnathan in Synecdoche, New York, Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut.
Noonan has also made numerous appearances in television series, including The X-Files (in the much-praised 1996 episode "Paper Hearts" that was written specifically for him{{Cite web| url=https://www.avclub.com/tom-noonan-1798218359|title=Tom Noonan {{!}} Film |work=The A.V. Club |author=Rabin, Nathan |date=November 20, 2009 |access-date=September 15, 2011}}), Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Tales from the Darkside and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (in which he starred alongside William Petersen, who played his nemesis, Will Graham, in Manhunter), and Detective Victor Huntley in Damages. He appeared on Blacklist as The Stew Maker, Louie as a doctor who takes the young Louie through the crucifixion in graphic anatomical detail. He also portrayed the Reverend Nathaniel Cole in the AMC original series Hell on Wheels.
In 2015, Noonan voiced all of the supporting characters in Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman's stop-motion comedy-drama film Anomalisa, for which he won the San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| rowspan="3" | 1980
| Man In Park | |
| Gloria
| 2nd Man - Gangster | |
| Heaven's Gate
| Jake | |
| 1981
| Wolfen | Ferguson | |
| rowspan="2" | 1983
| Daryl Potts | |
| Easy Money
| Paddy | |
| 1984
| Frank Holtzman | |
| rowspan="2" | 1985
| Reese | |
| Tom Goes to the Bar
| Unknown |
| rowspan="2" | 1986
| F/X | Varrick | |
| Manhunter
| |
| 1987
| |
| rowspan="2" | 1989
| Scully | |
| Mystery Train
| Man in Arcade Diner | Segment: "A Ghost" |
| 1990
| Cain / RoboCain | |
| 1993
| Ripper / Tommy Noonan | |
| 1994
| Michael | Also writer, director, editor and composer |
| rowspan="2" | 1995
| Heat | Kelso | |
| The Wife
| Jack | Also writer, director, editor and composer |
| 1998
| Phoenix | Chicago | |
| rowspan="2" | 1999
| Jackson McLaren | |
| Wang Dang
| Mickey Hounsell | Unreleased; also writer and director |
| rowspan="2" | 2000
| Mort Stein | |
| The Photographer
| Butler | |
| rowspan="3" | 2001
| Gary Jackson | |
| Knockaround Guys
| Sheriff Decker | |
| Bullet in the Brain
| Anders | Short film |
| 2002
| Joshua Taft |
| rowspan="2" | 2003
| The Egoists | Bryon Bradley | |
| Madness and Genius
| Frank Donovan | |
| 2004
| Principal | Voice |
| rowspan="2" | 2005
| Horror Host | |
| They're Made Out of Meat
| Duncan | Short film |
| 2006
| Minister Abraham | |
| 2007
| Mr. Chervenick | |
| rowspan="2" | 2008
| Ray Gullikson | |
| Synecdoche, New York
| Sammy Barnathan | |
| 2009
| Mr. Ulman | |
| rowspan="2" | 2010
| Brother John | |
| The Rendezvous
| {{N/A}} | Writer |
| rowspan="2" | 2012
| The Pilgrim & The Private Eye | Leche | rowspan="2" | Short film |
| Skinhead Requiem
| Priest |
| rowspan="2" | 2014
| Father Roger Smith | |
| The Shape of Something Squashed
| Douglas Whymper |Also writer and director |
| 2015
| Everyone else | Voice |
| 2017
| Older Walter | |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1980
| Rage! | Bo |
| 1984
| Bill Lacey | Episode: "The Odds" |
| 1989
| Brandon Thorton | Episode: "Making of a Martyr" |
| rowspan="3" | 1991
| Red Wind | {{N/A}} | Television film; writer and producer |
| The Ten Million Dollar Getaway
| Mr. Y | Television film |
| Monsters
| Howard Mitla | Episode: "The Moving Finger"; Also wrote and directed two episodes |
| 1994
| Heaven and Hell: North and South, Book III | Will Fenway | 3 episodes |
| rowspan="2" | 1996
| Frank Price | Episode: "Pilot" |
| The X-Files
| John Lee Roche | Episode: "Paper Hearts" |
| 2000
| The Beat | Howard Schmidt | 13 episodes |
| 2002
| CSI: Crime Scene Investigation | Zephyr | Episode: "Abra Cadaver" |
| 2003
| Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Malcolm Bryce | Episode: "Graansha" |
| 2004
| The Jury | Marty McMahon | Episode: "The Honeymoon Suite" |
| 2005
| Chucky | Episode: "No Good Deed" |
| 2007
| Gibson | Episode: "Do Unto Others" |
| 2008
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Jake Berlin | Episode: "Confession" |
| 2009–2011
| Damages |Detective Victor Huntley | 17 episodes |
| 2010
| Louie | Dr. Haveford | Episode: "God" |
| rowspan="2" | 2011
| The Cape | Preston Holloway | 2 episodes |
| Bar Karma
| Caleb | Episode: "Man Walks Out of a Bar" |
| 2011–2014
| Reverend Nathaniel Cole | 17 episodes |
| 2013–2014
| The Stewmaker | 2 episodes: "The Stewmaker", "The Decembrist" |
| rowspan="2" | 2014
| How and Why | Man in Black Parka | Pilot |
| The Leftovers
| Casper | Episode: "The Guest" |
| 2015–2018
| Pallid Man | 18 episodes |
| rowspan="2" | 2016
| Tom | rowspan="2" | 3 episodes |
| Quarry
| Oldcastle |
| 2017
| Bob | Voice; Episode: "Bob" |
| 2018
| Animals. | Phil's Dad | Voice; Episode: "The Democratic People's Republic of Kitty City" |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://www.tomnoonan.com/index.html}}
- {{IMDb name|6888}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20091106110043/http://daily.greencine.com/archives/007634.html GreenCine Daily Podcast with Tom Noonan] for The House of the Devil
{{San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noonan, Tom}}
Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
Category:American male film actors
Category:American male television actors
Category:Male actors from Greenwich, Connecticut
Category:Writers from Greenwich, Connecticut
Category:Film directors from Connecticut
Category:English-language film directors
Category:Sundance Film Festival award winners
Category:Yale University alumni
Category:David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni