William Todd Field (born February 24, 1964) is an American actor and filmmaker. He got his start as an actor, earning acclaim (and an Independent Spirit Award nomination) for his performance in Ruby In Paradise. In the late 90s, he played his two most high-profile roles: radio operator Tim "Beltzer" Lewis in the 1996 blockbuster Twister and pianist Nick Nightingale in Eyes Wide Shut, the swan song of Stanley Kubrick.
Starting in 2001, however, Field stopped acting and went behind the camera for his feature debut, In the Bedroom, an adaptation of the short story "Killings" by Andre Dubus. It earned rave reviews after its Sundance premiere, and eventually garnered five Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture. Five years later, Field followed it up with Little Children, an adaptation of Tom Perrotta's novel, which received similar acclaim and three Oscar nominations. Field had secured his place as one of the hottest new talents in independent cinema...
...and then, for sixteen years, nothing. His name was attached to a number of projects, including an adaptation of Blood Meridian and a political thriller to be written with Joan Didion, but none of them ever got off the ground. After raising a family for fifteen years, however, Field returned with Tár, an acclaimed psychological drama starring Cate Blanchett as a (fictional) living legend of the modern classical world.
Aside from his film career, Field was a batboy for a minor league baseball team called the Portland Mavericks, where he developed the idea for Big League Chew
alongside pitching coach Rob Nelson.
Filmography (as a director)
- In the Bedroom (2001)
- Little Children (2006)
- Tár (2022)
