Richard Jenkins

His body of work includes such films as The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Little Nikita (1988), Flirting with Disaster (1996), Snow Falling on Cedars (1999), The Mudge Boy (2003), Cheaper By The Dozen (2003), Burn After Reading (2008), Step Brothers (2008), Let Me In (2010), Jack Reacher (2012), The Cabin in the Woods (2012), White House Down (2013), Bone Tomahawk (2015), The Last Shift (2020), The Humans (2021), and Nightmare Alley (2021). On television, he played Nathaniel Fisher in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under (2001–2005). Jenkins received nominations for the Academy Award, Spirit Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor for the drama film The Visitor (2007). He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for the limited drama series Olive Kitteridge (2014). For his performance in the fantasy drama film The Shape of Water (2017), he was nominated for the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor. The Netflix miniseries Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022) garnered him both Golden Globe and Emmy nominations for Best Supporting Actor, and an additional Emmy nomination for producing the series.

Richard Jenkins studied at Illinois Wesleyan University and DeKalb High School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is film. Residence is recorded at Cumberland. Distinctions recorded are Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture and Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.

Jenkins was born and raised in DeKalb, Illinois. His mother, Mary Elizabeth (née Wheeler), was a housewife, and his father, Dale Stevens Jenkins, was a dentist. He attended DeKalb High School. Before he became a professional actor, Jenkins drove a linen truck; his boss was the father of actor John C. Reilly. He earned a degree in drama from Illinois Wesleyan University before relocating to Rhode Island.

Jenkins worked with the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, while breaking into film with a bit part in Feasting with Panthers (1974), a television film about Oscar Wilde. When he was given the option of joining the Screen Actors Guild, he accepted immediately. He continued as a member of Trinity's resident acting company and served as its artistic director from 1990 to 1994.

Jenkins played Nathaniel Fisher in the HBO drama series Six Feet Under. His character is the deceased patriarch of the Fisher family and regularly appears to his family as a ghost or in dreams. He played the role for the show's entire run. He and his castmates received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2002. Jenkins portrayed a DEA agent in one episode of Miami Vice and a mob boss in a later episode. In 2015, Jenkins won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his performance as Henry Kitteridge in the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge. In 2022, Jenkins portrayed Lionel Dahmer, father of notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, in Netflix's limited series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Starring alongside Evan Peters and Molly Ringwald, Jenkins appears in all ten episodes of the series created by Ryan Murphy. His performance was described in The New Yorker as "brilliant," and he was nominated for the 2023 Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Limited Or Anthology Series Or Movie.

Jenkins is married to choreographer Sharon R. Friedrick, with whom he has two children.