Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor, director, and writer. Described as a "modern character actor", his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Gideon in Minority Report (2002), Doctor Steve Pendanski in Holes (2003), Doctor Jonathan Jacobo in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), Danny Dalton Jr. in Syriana (2005), Samuel Sterns / The Leader in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Richard Schell in Lincoln (2012), the eponymous character of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), and Henry McCarty in Old Henry (2021). He portrayed Wade Tillman / Looking Glass in the HBO limited series Watchmen (2019), for which he received a Critics' Choice Television Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2020.
Nelson's directorial credits include Eye of God (1997), which was nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and an Independent Spirit Award; O (2001), a modern-day adaptation of Othello; and the Holocaust drama The Grey Zone (2001). Eye of God and The Grey Zone were both adapted from Nelson's own plays. Nelson has also co-directed music videos for Billy Woods and Kenny Segal including "Babylon by Bus" and "Soft Landing". He also co-directed the music video for Armand Hammer feat. Pink Siifu's "Trauma Mic".
Early life Nelson was born to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Ruth (),Michael Smith, "Bloomer Sooner: Tulsa native Tim Blake Nelson's roots are showing", Tulsa World, May 6, 2009. a noted Tulsa social activist and philanthropist, and Don Nelson, a geologist and wildcatter.Tulsa Historical Society, 1999 Hall of Fame Inductee: Ruth K. Nelson , tulsahistory.org; accessed June 14, 2017. His maternal uncle is businessman George Kaiser.
His maternal grandparents Herman Geo. Kaiser and Kate Kaiser, daughter of businessman Max Samuel, were from Germany, and left Germany shortly before World War II. They moved to Britain in 1938,Ulf Heinsohn, Max Samuel: a real mentsh, inventor, self-made-man / Menschenfreund, Erfinder, Selfmademan, Scott Galliart (trlr.), Stiftung Begegnungsstätte für jüdische Geschichte und Kultur in Rostock / Max-Samuel-Haus (ed.), (= Schriften aus dem Max-Samuel-Haus; vol. 15), Rostock: Hinstorff, 2022, page as indicated behind the footnote sign. ISBN 978-3-356-02380-0. where Nelson's mother was born,Stated on WTF with Marc Maron, December 3, 2018 and immigrated to the United States in 1941. His father's family were Russian-Jewish emigrants.
Nelson attended the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain Resort Arts and Conference Center in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma.Oklahoma Arts Institute, Alumni Listing
Nelson is a 1982 graduate of Holland Hall School in Tulsa, and a graduate of Brown University, where he was a classics major as well as senior orator for his class of 1986. At Brown, he studied under philosopher Martha Nussbaum. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa society. He won the Workman/Driskoll award for excellence in classical studies.Kari Molvar, "Q&A: Tim Blake Nelson", Brown Alumni Magazine (March/April 2001). He graduated from Juilliard in 1990, a member of Group 19.
Career
Nelson's debut play, Eye of God, was produced at Seattle Repertory Theatre in 1992. The Grey Zone premiered at MCC Theater in New York in 1996, where his 1998 work Anadarko was produced. He was a co-star of the sketch comedy show The Unnaturals, which ran on HA! (later CTV, and would turn into Comedy Central) between 1989 and 1991, alongside Paul Zaloom, John Mariano and Siobhan Fallon Hogan.
Nelson has appeared as an actor in film, TV and theatre. He had a featured role as Delmar in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? According to directors Joel and Ethan Coen, he was the only one in the cast or crew who had read Homer's Odyssey, a story upon which the film is loosely based.Romney, Jonathan. "The Coen brothers: Double vision", The Guardian, May 19, 2000. He sang "In the Jailhouse Now" on the film's soundtrack (which received a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002). He has had a number of supporting performances in feature films such as Holes, Minority Report, Syriana and Lincoln. He also appeared in Marvel Comics adaptations The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Captain America: Brave New World.
Nelson narrated the 2001 audiobook At the Altar of Speed: The Fast Life and Tragic Death of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. He appeared on stage extensively off-Broadway in New York at theatres including Manhattan Theater Club, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Class Company, Soho Repertory Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, and Central Park's Open Air Theater in the Shakespeare plays Richard III, Troilus and Cressida, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
He has directed film versions of his plays The Grey Zone and Eye of God (for which he received an Independent Spirit Awards nomination for the Someone to Watch Award), and directed two of his original screenplays: Kansas (1998) and Leaves of Grass (2009). He directed the film O, based on Othello and set in a modern-day high school. For Eye of God, he received the Tokyo Bronze Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival (1997) and the American Independent Award at the Seattle International Film Festival (1997); for O, the Best Director Award at the Seattle International Film Festival (2001); and for The Grey Zone, the National Board of Review's Freedom of Expression Award (2002). Nelson is on the boards of directors of The Actors Center in New York City and the Soho Rep Theatre.
Nelson guest-starred on the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation season 10 episode "Working Stiffs". In the episode "My Brother's Bomber" (aired September 29, 2015) of the PBS investigative series Frontline, he talked about the loss of his friend David Dornstein in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
In 2018, Nelson played the title character in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a western anthology film by Joel and Ethan Coen, after receiving the original script 16 years prior, in 2002. The film was released on Netflix on November 16, after a limited theatrical run, and received positive reviews, with many highlighting Nelson's performance and his overall segment. He portrayed Ralph Myers in the drama/legal drama Just Mercy (2019). In January 2023, he joined the cast of Dune: Part Two, though his role was ultimately cut out of the film.
In December 2025, Nelson published his second novel, Superhero, a satirical behind-the-scenes look at the making of a Marvel-like Hollywood movie.
Playwright Nelson's play Socrates opened at The Public Theater in 2019, starring Michael Stuhlbarg. It was favorably received by numerous publications, including the New York Times.
Personal life Nelson resides in New York City with his wife, Lisa Benavides, and their three sons. One of his sons is Henry Nelson, a film director who directed Asleep in My Palm. On May 8, 2009, he was inducted as an honorary member of the University of Tulsa's Beta of Oklahoma chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa national collegiate honor society. Nelson currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr College, the school from which his mother Ruth Nelson graduated in 1958.
Filmography +Key Denotes productions that have not yet been released
Film Year Title Role Notes 1992 This Is My Life Dennis 1993 Motel Blue 19 Adult Luther (voice) Uncredited 1994 Amateur Young Detective 1995 Heavyweights Roger Johnson 1996 Joe's Apartment Cockroach (voice) 1997 Eye of God Director and writer Donnie Brasco FBI Technician Prix Fixe Busboy Short film1998 The Thin Red Line Pvt. Lysander Tills Kansas Short film; director and writer2000 Hamlet Flight captain O Brother, Where Art Thou? Delmar O'Donnell2001 O Director The Grey Zone Director, writer, producer and editor2002 The Good Girl Bubba Cherish Daly Minority Report Gideon2003 A Foreign Affair Jake Adams Also executive producer Holes Dr. Kiowa "Mom" Pendanski Wonderland Billy Deverell2004 Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed Dr. Jonathan Jacobo The Last Shot Marshal Paris Bereft Dennis Meet the Fockers Officer Vern LeFlore2005 The Amateurs Barney Macklehatton My Suicidal Sweetheart Various The Big White Gary Syriana Danny Dalton2006 Come Early Morning Uncle Tim The Darwin Awards Perp Hoot Curly Fido Mr. Theopolis 2007 The Astronaut Farmer Kevin Munchak2008 The Incredible Hulk Samuel Sterns American Violet David Cohen2009 Saint John of Las Vegas Militant Ned Leaves of Grass Bolger Also director, writer and producer2011 Flypaper Peanut Butter Yelling to the Sky Coleman Detachment Mr. Wiatt The Big Year Fuchs2012 Big Miracle Pat Lafayette Lincoln Richard Schell2013 Blue Caprice Ray As I Lay Dying Anse Child of God Sheriff Fate Snake and Mongoose Mike McAllister2014 The Homesman Freighter The Sound and the Fury Father Kill the Messenger Alan Fenster Rickover: The Birth of Nuclear Power Admiral Hyman Rickover Documentary2015 Anesthesia Adam Zarrow Also director, writer and producer Fantastic Four Dr. Harvey Allen The Long Home Hovington Unreleased2016 The Confirmation Vaughn Colossal Garth Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Wayne Pfister2017 Deidra & Laney Rob a Train Truman The Vanishing of Sidney Hall Johan Tidemand The Institute Dr. Lemelle The Long Home Hovington Unreleased2018 Monster Leroy Sawicki The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Buster Scruggs Segment: "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"2019 The Report Raymond Nathan The Hustle Portnoy Uncredited Angel Has Fallen Vice President Martin Kirby Just Mercy Ralph Myers Zeroville Professor Kohn The Jesus Rolls Doctor2021 Naked Singularity Angus Old Henry Henry Also executive producer Ghosts of the Ozarks Torb National Champions Rodger Cummings Nightmare Alley Carny Boss 2022 Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio The Black Rabbits (voice) 2023 Ghosted Borislov Ninety-Five Senses Coy (voice) Short film Asleep in My Palm Tom Also producer 2024 The Bricklayer O'Malley Bang Bang Bernard 'Bang Bang' Rozyski Dune: Part Two Undisclosed character Deleted scenes Greedy People Wallace Chetlo The Invisibles Charlie 2025 Atropia Mr. Speaker Captain America: Brave New World Samuel Sterns / The Leader On the End Tom Ferreira The Testament of Ann Lee Pastor Reuben Wright 2026 The Leader Marshall Applewhite Also executive producer Director, writer and producer; Post-production 2027 Post-production
Television Year Title Role Notes 1989–1991 The Unnaturals Recurring characters 1995 House of Buggin' Kidnapper Episode: "The Paco Vasquez Story" 1996 Dead Man's Walk Johnny Carthage 3 episodes2005 Stella Mountain Man Episode: "Camping" Warm Springs Tom Loyless Television film 2006 Haskett's Chance Pilot; director 2009 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Paulie Krill Episode: "Working Stiffs"2011 CHAOS Casey Malick 13 episodes Modern Family Hank Episode: "Dude Ranch" 2012–2015 Black Dynamite Chief Humphrey Magillahorn / Donald Sterling /PBS Executive / XXX Film Director (voice) 4 episodes 2014 Klondike Meeker 6 episodes 2015, 2019 Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Randy 4 episodes2015 Z: The Beginning of Everything Episode: "Pilot"; director For Justice Ochs Rainey Pilot 2017 Wormwood Sidney Gottlieb 4 episodes 2018 Dallas & Robo The Woodsman (voice) 8 episodes 2019 Watchmen Wade Tillman / Looking Glass 6 episodes 2020, 2025 Big City Greens Grampa Ernest Green (voice) 3 episodes2022 Lost Ollie Zozo (voice) 4 episodes Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities Nick Appleton Episode: "Lot 36" George & Tammy Roy Acuff Episode: "The Race Is On" 2023 Poker Face Keith Owens Episode: "The Future of the Sport" 2025 The Lowdown Dale Washberg 3 episodes
Plays written Eye of God (1992) The Grey Zone (1996) Anadarko (1998) Socrates (2019) And Then We Were No More (2025)
Novels City of Blows (2023) Superhero: A Novel (2025)
Video games Year Game Role 2008 The Incredible Hulk Samuel Sterns (voice)
Music videos