Crispin Glover

Through the 1990s, Glover garnered attention for portraying smaller roles in films such as Wild at Heart (1990), The Doors (1991), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), and Dead Man (1995). Starting with his role as the Thin Man in Charlie's Angels (2000), he began to star in more mainstream films. These films include a reprisal of the Thin Man in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Willard (2003), Beowulf (2007), Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Hot Tub Time Machine (2010). From 2017 to 2021, he starred as Mr. World in the Starz television series American Gods. Glover has published books, such as Rat Catching (1988), and has directed art films, such as What Is It? (2005), It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine. (2007), and No! YOU'RE WRONG. Or: Spooky Action at a Distance (2025). These films have never received a traditional theatrical release; instead, Glover tours with the films, holding screenings in theatres around the world.

Glover was born in New York City and moved to Los Angeles with his family at the age of five. He is the son of actor Bruce Glover and actress and dancer Marion Elizabeth Lillian "Betty" Krachey, who retired upon his birth. He was named after the Saint Crispin's Day speech from William Shakespeare's play Henry V, which his parents enjoyed. "Hellion", his real middle name, had earlier been used as a false middle name by his father, who did not like his own real Germanic middle name, Herbert. Glover's father was of British, Czech, and Swedish descent, while his mother has Czech and German ancestry. As a child, Glover attended the Mirman School from first through ninth grades. He then attended both Venice High for 10th and 11th grades, and Beverly Hills High School for 12th grade; he graduated in 1982.

Glover began acting professionally at the age of 13, his first role being Friedrich von Trapp in a theatre production of The Sound of Music at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with Florence Henderson. He appeared in several sitcoms as a teenager, including Happy Days and Family Ties. He appeared in a main role alongside Nicolas Cage in a television pilot titled The Best Of Times (1981), which aired on ABC, but was never picked up by the network. His first film role was in My Tutor (1983), which he subsequently followed with roles in Teachers and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (both 1984). He then worked with director Trent Harris on the third chapter of the Beaver Trilogy, titled The Orkly Kid (1985). His breakout role was as George McFly in Robert Zemeckis's Back to the Future (1985), an international box-office success. During filming, Glover vocalized his objections to the film's ending, believing it equated material reward with moral success. Zemeckis ignored his complaints. Due to these initial disagreements and a salary dispute, Glover did not return for either of the Back to the Future sequels, and his role was taken over by Jeffrey Weissman. After the success of Back to the Future, Glover sought to star in films that "questioned" the status quo and contained themes that aligned with his own interests. This pursuit led him to star as Layne in River's Edge (1986). Struggling to find any other films that reflected his own interests, Glover sought to work with film directors he admired. These include David Lynch on Wild at Heart (1990) and Hotel Room (1993), John Boorman on Where the Heart Is (1990), Dennis Hopper on Chasers (1994), and Miloš Forman on The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996). He also became the first actor to portray Andy Warhol in a widely released film, Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991). Beginning in the 2000s, Glover chose the funding of his own films as a filmmaker to be the primary factor in deciding in which films he would act. After this decision, Glover featured more prominently in more mainstream films, starting with Charlie's Angels (2000), playing the role of the Thin Man, a role he reprised in the 2003 sequel. The character had initially been written as a speaking role, but Glover, noting that the lines as written were exposition, convinced the producers to eliminate the lines to create a precise image for the character. He went on to portray the titular character in Willard (2003), his first time portraying the protagonist in a studio-funded film. Glover appeared in Beowulf (2007) as the creature Grendel, playing the part through performance capture technology and speaking all his dialogue in Old English. The film was his first collaboration with director Robert Zemeckis since the original Back to the Future. In 2010, Glover played Ilosovic Stayne/the Knave of Hearts in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland and the one-armed bellhop Phil in Hot Tub Time Machine. Glover portrayed his first series regular role on television as Mr. World in American Gods (2017–2021), while continuing to still act in films such as We Have Always Lived in the Castle (2018), Roger Avery's Lucky Day (2019), and the Bret Easton Ellis-scripted slasher film Smiley Face Killers (2020), directed by River's Edge director Tim Hunter. In 2022, he appeared in the Netflix horror anthology series Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities in the episode "Pickman's Model", (based on the H. P. Lovecraft work of the same name), as the title character.

During a hiatus from films, Glover released an album titled The Big Problem Does Not Equal the Solution, The Solution Equals Let It Be in 1989 through Restless Records, produced by Barnes & Barnes. The album features original songs such as "Clowny Clown Clown", odd versions of Lee Hazlewood's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", and Charles Manson's "I'll Never Say Never to Always" (sung in falsetto), and readings from his art books Rat Catching and Oak Mot. Sample pages from these books are featured in the album's liner notes. He also directed a music video for "Clowny Clown Clown". In 1994, Glover recorded a second album produced by Artie Barnes (Robert Haimer), which was to be titled The Big Love Recordings. It featured original songs and covers of songs such as Madonna's "Like a Virgin". A couple of planned tracks were never recorded, leaving the album unfinished and unreleased. Glover recorded a version of the Michael Jackson song "Ben" to coincide with the release of his 2003 film Willard; the song had been written for the sequel to the original 1971 version of the film. In the music video for the song directed by Glover, he sings to a rat named Ben in front of a crowd of aroused women with his Willard co-star R. Lee Ermey portraying three male characters who resemble filmmaker Erich von Stroheim, actor Emil Jannings in the silent film The Last Laugh, and Adolf Hitler. Several songs using Glover's name as the title have been recorded by various artists, including shoegaze/gothic rock band Scarling., and Chicago outsider musician Wesley Willis.

He has residences in Los Angeles, New York City, and the Czech Republic. His Czech residence Zámek Konárovice, 45 minutes east of Prague by train, is a 17th-century 20-acre (8.1 ha) château that is recognized as historically significant by the Czech government. Purchased in the early 2000s, he spent many years renovating the former horse stables of the château into sound stages to house sets used in his directorial feature films, including No! YOU'RE WRONG. or: Spooky Action at a Distance. The property requires constant upkeep and restoration; according to Glover, "[The property] is a lifetime project that will be in continuous flux and repair for hundreds of years from now, as it has been the hundreds of years before I 'owned' it." Glover is single and has no children. From 2001 to 2003, Glover dated Alexa Lauren, a Penthouse magazine 'Pet of the Month' for September 1999. From 2017 to 2020, Glover donated money to the Justice Democrats and the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign.

Glover appeared on Late Night with David Letterman on July 28, 1987, to promote River's Edge. To the surprise of Letterman and the audience, Glover appeared wearing platform shoes and a wig. During the interview, Glover behaved erratically and nearly kicked Letterman in the face, causing Letterman to walk off the set. Glover subsequently returned to the show a month later, laughing when Letterman asked him to explain his behaviour and failing to give a cohesive answer. Four years later, the film Rubin & Ed premiered, in which Glover had a starring role as titular character Rubin Farr, wearing a similar outfit to what he had worn on Late Night. After the release of Rubin & Ed, some speculated that Glover was acting in-character as Rubin Farr during his appearance on Late Night. Glover has refused to go into detail about the reasons for his behavior on the show, usually facetiously stating that he "neither confirms nor denies" he was on Letterman's show on July 28, 1987. The character Rubin Farr also appears in Glover's music video for his 1989 song "Clowny Clown Clown". In 2006, Glover appeared in two YouTube videos with comedian Stevie Ryan dressed as Farr.

In Back to the Future Part II, Zemeckis reused brief footage of Glover that had been filmed for the first film. Glover was billed as "George McFly in footage from Back to the Future" in the closing credits. The older footage was combined with new footage of actor Jeffrey Weissman wearing a false chin, nose, and cheekbones, and various obfuscating methods – in the background, wearing sunglasses, rear shot, upside down – to play George McFly. Because these methods suggested that Glover himself had performed for the film, he successfully sued the producers on the grounds that they had used his likeness without permission, as well as not having paid him for the reuse of the footage from the original film. The case was resolved outside of court and Glover was awarded a reported $760,000. As a result of the lawsuit, clauses in the Screen Actors Guild collective-bargaining agreements now state that producers and actors are not allowed to use such methods to reproduce the likeness of other actors, effectively putting to an end the decades-long use of the fake Shemp technique among living actors. The lawsuit is often evoked in cases for actors involving the misuse of their likeness through digital recreation and other technological methods to replicate their appearance without their permission.

In February 2026, Glover was sued by a woman alleging he had sexually groomed her and violated her civil and political rights by tracking her personal movements, not paying her for labor, holding her captive while forcing her to serve as his live-in girlfriend and sex slave, wrongfully evicting her, and choking her during an altercation. Glover denied the allegations, stating that the accuser had stayed in his home in Los Angeles for roughly sixteen nights in early 2024, where she was free to leave at any time. He also claimed she began to act erratically after he refused to pretend to others they had gotten married in an Islamic wedding ceremony. Glover sought police and legal protection against the accuser in March 2024, after a physical altercation. She claims he choked her during the incident, which Glover denies. He claims to have deliberately avoided physical contact with her while she assaulted him by gouging his face with her nails, leading to her arrest for assault. He also confirmed in September 2025 the accuser's legal representation threatened him with a civil lawsuit if he did not pay an unspecified amount of money, which he refused, believing it to be attempted extortion. In June 2026, Glover filed a counterclaim, accusing the woman of assault, battery, intrusion into private affairs, and trespassing.