Born:
November 15, 1940
in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Best Known For:
Playing Jack McCoy in Law & Order.
Early-life:
Samuel Atkinson Waterston was born on November 15, 1940, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He caught the acting bug at the age of seven, attended Groton Prep School and entered Yale University on a scholarship in 1958. Sam studied French and history, and graduated with a BA in 1962. He honed his craft at the American Actors Workshop in Paris. After leaving Yale, he spent some months at the Clinton Playhouse.
Career:
Waterston made his showbiz debut in 1965 appearing in The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean and Dr Kildare. A string of projects followed, including Generation, Three, The Glass Menagerie, The Great Gatsby, Capricorn One, Eagle's Wing and Heaven's Gate. He received an Oscar-nomination as journalist Sydney Schanberg in acclaimed 1984 movie The Killing Fields. He's also appeared in Hannah and Her Sisters, September, Serial Mom and The Newsroom. Between 1994 and 2010, he played Jack McCoy in 333 episodes of Law & Order, a role he reprised for the two spin-off shows, Special Victims Unit and Trial By Jury, as well as Homicide: Life on the Street.
Quote:
On how he handles fame: "I got a note from my father, who said that 'Success is wonderful, if you don't inhale'."
Trivia:
In 2012, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.