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Reed Birney (born September 11, 1954) is an American actor. He has worked both on Broadway and Off-Broadway.

Reed Birney
Born	(1954-09-11) September 11, 1954 (age 67) Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Education	Boston University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1976–present
Spouse	Constance Shulman ​ (m. 1999)​
Children	2

In 2016, Birney won a Tony Award for his performance in the play The Humans. He has also won three Obie Awards and four Drama Desk Awards throughout his career.

Career

Birney attended the Boston University College of Fine Arts for two years. After moving to New York City, he attended classes sponsored by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.[1]

Birney appeared Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 1976 in Gemini by Albert Innaurato. He has appeared in many plays Off-Broadway since, including Bug (2004) and Circle Mirror Transformation (2009).[2]

He has performed on Broadway in Casa Valentina (2014) and The Humans.[3] He appeared in the Annie Baker adaptation of Uncle Vanya at the Soho Rep in 2012. Charles Isherwood in his review for The New York Times wrote: "The indispensable Reed Birney is as vitally moving a Vanya as I’ve yet to see..."[4] He was nominated for the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actor in a Play, for Uncle Vanya.[5]

He won the 2016 Tony Award, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, for The Humans;[6] the 2014 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, for Casa Valentina; and the 2010 Obie Award, Performance, for Circle Mirror Transformation.[7] He received a Special Drama Desk Award in 2011, honoring his career.[8][9]

He appeared off-Broadway in the play by Tracy Letts, Man from Nebraska, which opened in January 2017 in previews at the Second Stage Theatre.[10] From May to October 2017, he starred as O'Brien in the Broadway production of 1984 at the Hudson Theatre.

His television performances include Matthew Lester in Kane & Abel, Mr. Prescott on Gossip Girl, Donald Blythe on the Netflix series House of Cards,[8][11] Tom Connolly in The Blacklist and Dr. Adamson on Titans. Recently he has appeared in Hulu's adaptation of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale as Lieutenant Stans.

His movie roles included Louie in Four Friends (1981), the Merchant Prince in A Perfect Murder (1998), Governor Willis in Morning Glory (2010), J. Whitman in The 40-Year-Old Version, Pa in The Hunt (both 2020), Peter Bloom in Strawberry Mansion, and Richard in Mass (both 2021).

Birney is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University.[8]

Personal life

He is married to actress Constance Shulman, who appears in Orange is the New Black, and they have two children together.[12] Their daughter Gus Birney is also an actor, as is their son, Ephraim.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1976	Not a Pretty Picture	Fred
1981	Four Friends	Louie
1985	Crimewave	Vic Ajax
1998	A Perfect Murder	Merchant Prince #1
2003	Uptown Girls	Executive
2007	The Ten	Jim Stansel
2008	Changeling	Mayor Cryer
2010	Twelve Thirty	Martin
2010	Morning Glory	Governor Willis
2012	Girl Most Likely	Dr. Chalmers
2013	Molly's Theory of Relativity	Asher
2013	Adult World	Todd
2014	In Your Eyes	Dr. Maynard
2015	Jackrabbit	Paul Bateson
2015	Mad Women	Richard
2020	The Forty-Year-Old Version	J. Whitman
2020	Lost Girls	Peter Hackett
2020	The Hunt	Pop
2021	Strawberry Mansion	Peter Bloom
2021	Mass	Richard
2022	The Menu	Richard	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Eight Is Enough	Steven	Episode: "Mary, He's Married"
1981	Nurse		Episode: "Margin for Error"
1983	3-2-1 Contact	Wenfield	Episode: "Flight: Flying Animals"
1985	Kane & Abel	Matthew Lester	2 episodes
1987	Beverly Hills Buntz	Larry Fielding	Episode: "Sid and Randy"
1990	Tales from the Crypt	Paul	Episode: "Mute Witness to Murder"
1992–2010	Law & Order	Various	3 episodes
1994	Another World	Walter Trask	3 episodes
1994	American Masters	Actor	Episode: "Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage"
1998	From the Earth to the Moon	John Houbolt	Episode: "Spider"
2000	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Harry Waters	Episode: "Chat Room"
2002	The Education of Max Bickford	Todd	Episode: "Money Changes Everything"
2002	Ed	Mr. Walzer	Episode: "Human Nature"
2002–2005	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	A.D.A. Stillman / Fred Martz	2 episodes
2003	Queens Supreme		Episode: "The Eyes Have It"
2006	Kidnapped	Mancini	Episode: "Number One with a Bullet"
2007–2009	Gossip Girl	Mr. Prescott	4 episodes
2008	Wainy Days	Charlie Rose	Episode: "Jonah and the Manilow"
2009	Kings	Minister Forsythe	5 episodes
2010	My Generation	Michael Foster	2 episodes
2012	The Good Wife	Lee Tripke	Episode: "Battle of the Proxies"
2013–2017	House of Cards	Donald Blythe	17 episodes
2014	Blue Bloods	Burden Maxwell	Episode: "Manhattan Queens"
2014	Girls	Peter	Episode: "I Saw You"
2014–2015	The Blacklist	Tom Connolly	9 episodes
2015	American Odyssey	Senator Darnell	3 episodes
2017	Madam Secretary	Roland Hobbs	Episode: "Gift Horse"
2017	The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks	Dr. George Gey	Television film
2018	Chicago Med	Greg	Episode: "Best Laid Plans"
2018	The Americans	Patrick McCleesh	2 episodes
2018	Titans	Dr. Adamson	5 episodes
2019	A Million Little Things	Eugene Bloon	Episode: "The Day Before..."
2019	High Maintenance	Leonard	Episode: "Cruise"
2019	Bull	Judge Humphrey	Episode: "Imminent Danger"
2020–2021	Home Before Dark	Sylvester Lisko	18 episodes
2021	The Handmaid's Tale	Lieutenant Stans	Episode: "The Crossing"
2021	Evil	Father Thunderland	Episode: "I Is for IRS"
2021	Succession	Dave Boyer	Episode: "What It Takes"

Awards and nominations

Year	Work	Award	Category	Result
2011	N/A	Drama Desk Award	Special Drama Desk Award	Won
2014	Casa Valentina	Tony Award	Best Featured Actor in a Play	Nominated
		Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play	Won
		Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance Award	Nominated
2016	The Humans	Tony Award	Best Featured Actor in a Play	Won
		Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Ensemble	Won
		Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Actor in a Play	Nominated
		Drama League Award	Distinguished Performance Award	Nominated
2021	Mass	Gotham Award	Outstanding Supporting Performance	Nominated

References

External links

• Reed Birney at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Reed Birney at IMDb
• Reed Birney at the Internet Broadway Database

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