Arliss Howard

3.1. Acting Career

Howard has built a notable acting career with a wide array of roles in both film and television. Early in his film career, he gained recognition for his roles in Full Metal Jacket (1987), Tequila Sunrise (1988), Men Don't Leave (1990), Ruby (1992), and Natural Born Killers (1994). In 1997, he appeared in two films directed by Steven Spielberg: he portrayed the billionaire John Hammond's nephew, Peter Ludlow, in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and U.S. Vice President John C. Calhoun in Amistad.

Other significant film roles include Plain Clothes (1988) where he played Nick Dunbar, For the Boys (1991) as Dixie's Husband Sergeant Michael Leonard, CrissCross (1992) as Joe, Wilder Napalm (1993) as Wilder Foudroyant, and an uncredited role as Older Scotty Smalls in The Sandlot (1993). He also appeared in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) as Virgil, Johns (1996) as John Cardoza, The Lesser Evil (1998) as Ivan Williams, and A Map of the World (1999) as Paul Reverdy. Later film appearances include Dandelion (2004) as Luke Mullich, Birth (2004) as Bob, Weapons (2006) as Mikey's Uncle, Awake (2007) as Dr. Jonathan Neyer, The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) as Richard DeTamble, and Moneyball (2011) as John Henry. More recently, he appeared in Concussion (2015) as Dr. Joseph Maroon, The Boy Downstairs (2017) as Diana's Father, Lapsis (2020) as Dr. Mangold, Mank (2020) as Louis B. Mayer, and The Killer (2023) as Henderson "Clay" Claybourne, the Client. He also has a role in the upcoming film The Thicket, which is in post-production.

In television, Howard had a recurring role as Captain Kenneth Push in the CBS weekly drama series Medium from 2005 to 2007, appearing in four episodes. In 2010, he played Kale Ingram, a supervisor at an American intelligence agency, in the TV series Rubicon, which ran for 13 episodes on AMC. He was also part of the main cast in Season 6 of True Blood (2013) as Truman Burrell and in Manhunt: Deadly Games (2020) as Earl Embry. Other television appearances include an uncredited role as a policeman in The Incredible Hulk (1979), Danny Madden in AfterMASH (1983), Phil Platt in Hill Street Blues (1984), and a stranger in The Twilight Zone (1985). He also appeared in numerous television movies, such as A Killer in the Family (1983) as John Lyons, The Day After (1983) as Tom Cooper, Hands of a Stranger (1987) as Felix Lyttle, Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture (1990) as Raymond Eames, Till Death Us Do Part (1992) as Vincent Bugliosi, Those Secrets (1992) as Simon, The Infiltrator (1995) as Ricky Eaton, The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996) as Peter Malkin, Beyond the Call (1996) as Keith O'Brien, Old Man (1997) as J.J. Taylor, You Know My Name (1999) as Wiley, The Song of the Lark (2001) as Dr. Howard Archie, and Word of Honor (2003) as J.D. Runnells. In 2017, he appeared as Theodore Olson in the episode "Part IV" of When We Rise, and in 2021, he played Larry in two episodes of Mr. Corman. Howard was nominated for two CableACE Awards for his roles in Somebody Has to Shoot the Picture and The Man Who Captured Eichmann, winning for the former. In June 2020, he joined the cast of a CBS political drama pilot titled Ways & Means alongside Patrick Dempsey.

Howard has extensive stage credits, including a role in the 2009 Broadway revival of August Wilson's Joe Turner's Come and Gone. He has appeared in several productions at the American Repertory Theater (ART) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, such as Paula Vogel's How I Learned to Drive, in which he starred with his wife Debra Winger, and Bertolt Brecht's In the Jungle of the Cities, directed by Robert Woodruff. His stage work also includes playing Mikhail Lvovich Astrov in Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and Nikolai Ivanov in Chekhov's Ivanov, with Debra Winger playing the role of Anna.

3.2. Directing and Screenplay

Beyond his acting roles, Arliss Howard has also made contributions as a film director and screenwriter. He directed and starred in the film Big Bad Love (2001), which he also co-wrote with his brother, James Howard. His wife, Debra Winger, also starred in the film. He similarly directed and starred in the 2005 television movie Dawn Anna, which focuses on the Columbine High School massacre and was also co-written with James Howard. Debra Winger again starred in this project. In 2021, he directed and wrote the segment "Still Life" for the film With/In: Volume 2. Howard has also directed several episodes of the CBS series Medium, in which he had a recurring role.

5.1. Film

5.2. Television