Samuel Atkinson "Sam" Waterston (born November 15, 1940 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) is an American actor.
He's best known for starring on Law & Order as Jack McCoy for sixteen years and being Oscar-nominated for the role of journalist Sydney Schanberg in 1984's The Killing Fields.
He has a daughter, Katherine, who also became an actress.
Partial filmography:
Film roles
- Fitzwilly (1967): Oliver
- The Great Gatsby (1974): Nick Carraway
- Capricorn One (1978): Lt. Col. Peter Willis
- Interiors (1978): Mike
- Hopscotch (1980): Joe Cutter
- Heaven's Gate (1980): Frank Canton
- The Killing Fields (1984): Sydney Schanberg
- Warning Sign (1985): Cal Morse
- Hannah and Her Sisters (1986): David
- September (1987): Peter
- Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989): Ben
- The Man in the Moon (1991): Matthew Trant
- Serial Mom (1994): Eugene Sutphin
- Nixon (1995): Richard Helmsnote
- Miss Sloane (2016): George Dupont
- On the Basis of Sex (2018): Erwin Griswold
Television roles
- Oppenheimer (1980): Robert Oppenheimer
- Gore Vidal's Lincoln: (1988): President Abraham Lincoln
- The Civil War (1990): President Abraham Lincoln (voice)
- I'll Fly Away (1991–93): Forrest Bedford
- Law & Order (1994–2010, 2022-): Jack McCoy
- Homicide: Life on the Street: (2 episodes from 1997–99) Jack McCoy
- Law & Order: SVU (4 episodes from 2000–18) Jack McCoy
- Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005; two episodes) Jack McCoy
- The Newsroom (2012–14): Charlie Skinner
- Godless (2017): Marshal John Cook
- Grace and Frankie (2015–22): Sol Bergstein
- The Dropout (2022): George Schultz
