• Graduated from Princeton High School, Princeton, NJ
• Graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University (1967)
• Studied at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art
• Was named a Fulbright scholar
• Father of Ian Lithgow
• Hosted the Welcoming Reception for UCLA's new Chancellor Carnesale
• Claims that his most difficult performance was in "Twilight Zone" because he had to portray fear of the monster, although he couldn't really see it.
• Graduated from Harvard University, with a BA in history and literature. Daughter, Phoebe (b. 1982)
• Was considered for the role of Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs.
• Wins both the Tony award and Drama Desk award as best actor in a Broadway musical, for performance in "Sweet Smell of Success" May/June 2002.
• Wife Mary is economics professor at UCLA.
• His father ran a Shakespearian Acting company in the 1950s which included David Carradine.
• Parents are Sarah Jane Price (b. 1917) and theater director/producer Arthur Lithgow (1915-2004).
• Biography in: "Contemporary Authors". Volume 217, pg. 219-223. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2004.
• Was considered for the role of Doc Brown in "Back to the Future" (1985). The role went to Christopher Lloyd instead.
• Was the voice of Yoda in the NPR adaptations of the Star Wars Trilogy.
• Has won two Tony Awards: in 1973, as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for David Storey's "The Changing Room;" and in 2002, as Best Actor (Musical) for "Sweet Smell of Success." He has also been nominated on three occasions for Tonys -- two for Best Actor (Play): for "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1985) and "M. Butterfly." (1988), and once for Best Actor (Musical): for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (2005).

John Lithgow has won enormous critical acclaim, as well as two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, American Comedy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his starring role in NBC's hit comedy series 3rd Rock From the Sun. Produced by Carsey-Werner, the show has enjoyed consistently high ratings since its premiere and was the first hit of the 1995-96 television season. Lithgow plays the commander of a group of four aliens who have come to study Earth.

Although it was his 1982 Academy Award-nominated portrayal of Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp that first brought Lithgow national attention, the actor has been refining his craft in films, television and theater for over 20 years.

From his Tony Award-winning Broadway debut in The Changing Room to his performance in the Tony-winning M. Butterfly, from his psychopathic murderer in Brian DePalma's Blow Out to his panic-stricken airline passenger in George Miller's segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie, Lithgow has consistently demonstrated tremendous depth and range.

Lithgow recently completed production on Johnny Skidmarks for Cinepix Film Properties, with Frances McDormand and Peter Gallagher.

Lithgow's other film credits include Cliffhanger, Bruce Beresford's A Good Man in Africa, Memphis Belle, Silent Fall, Brian De Palma's Obsession and Raising Cain, Princess Caraboo, The Pelican Brief, Ricochet, Footloose, The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai, Bob Fosse's All That Jazz, 2010, The Manhattan Project, Distant Thunder, and At Play in the Fields of the Lord. He won a second Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Debra Winger's lover in the Oscar-winning Terms of Endearment.

Lithgow earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the highly-charged 1983 television movie The Day After, and won the Emmy in 1987 for his portrayal of 'John Waters' in an episode of Amazing Stories. He was nominated for another Emmy that year for portraying 'Major Kendall Laird' in The Resting Place, a Hallmark Hall of Fame special. Lithgow received a CableACE nomination for his work in the 1989 HBO telefilm Traveling Man.

Lithgow was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor as well as a Drama Desk award for his performance in Requiem for a Heavyweight.