William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950 in Miami, Florida) is an American actor, screenwriter, teacher and director in theater, film and television.
He is probably best known for his Academy Award-nominated role in The Coen Brothers' masterpiece Fargo, although prior to that his career was strong and built on both small independant films and action movie blockbusters. With his Ned Flanders appearance and unassuming voice, Macy is often cast as middle-class ineffectual types although he has played a variety of different roles out of that spectrum. He describes himself, accurately, as "sort of a Middle American, WASPy, Lutheran kind of guy... Everyman".
Macy has been nominated for nine Emmy Awards and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards, winning two of the former and one of the latter. He is also a three-time Golden Globe Award nominee. Since 2011 he has played the main antagonist in the Showtime television series Shameless.
Macy and actress Felicity Huffman have been married since 1997.
Filmography on this wiki
- 1980 Somewhere in Time as Critic
- 1983 Without a Trace as Reporter
- 1983 WarGames as NORAD Officer (uncredited)
- 1985 The Last Dragon as J.J.
- 1987 Radio Days as Radio Actor
- 1987 House of Games as Sgt. Morgan
- 1988 Things Change as Billy Drake
- 1991 Homicide as Tim Sullivan
- 1991 Shadows and Fog as Cop with Spiro
- 1993 Twenty Bucks as Policeman
- 1993 Benny & Joon as Randy Burch
- 1993 Searching for Bobby Fischer as Petey's Father
- 1994 The Client as Dr. Greenway
- 1995 Evolver as the voice of Evolver
- 1995 Murder in the First as D.A. William McNeil
- 1995 Tall Tale as Railroad Magnate (uncredited)
- 1995 Above Suspicion as Prosecuting Atty. Schultz (also writer)
- 1995 Mr. Holland's Opus as Vice Principal Gene Wolters
- 1996 Fargo as Jerry Lundegaard
- 1996 Down Periscope as Commander Carl Knox
- 1996 Ghosts of Mississippi as Charlie Crisco
- 1996 Andersonville as Colonel Chandler
- 1997 Air Force One as Major Norman Caldwell
- 1997 Boogie Nights as Little Bill
- 1997 Wag the Dog as CIA Agent Charles Young
- 1998 Pleasantville as George Parker
- 1998 Psycho as Milton Arbogast
- 1998 A Civil Action as James Gordon
- 1999 Happy, Texas as Sheriff Chappy Dent
- 1999 Mystery Men as The Shoveler
- 1999 Magnolia as Quiz Kid Donnie Smith
- 2000 State and Main as Walt Price
- 2001 Jurassic Park III as Paul Kirby
- 2002 It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie as Glenn
- 2003 The Cooler as Bernie Lootz
- 2003 Seabiscuit as Tick Tock McGlaughlin
- 2004 Cellular as Mooney
- 2004 In Enemy Hands as Chief of Boat Nathan Travers
- 2004 Spartan as Stoddard
- 2005 Sahara as Admiral James Sandecker
- 2005 Edmond as Edmond Burke
- 2005 Thank You for Smoking as Senator Ortolan K. Finistirre
- 2006 Doogal as Brian
- 2006 Bobby as Paul Ebbers
- 2007 Wild Hogs as Dudley Frank
- 2008 The Deal as Charlie Berns
- 2008 The Tale of Despereaux as Lester
- 2009 The Maiden Heist as George
- 2010 Marmaduke as Don Twombly
- 2011 The Lincoln Lawyer as Frank Levin
- 2012 The Sessions as Father Brendan
- 2014 Cake as Leonard
- 2015 Room as Robert "Grandpa" Newsome
- 2017 The Layover (director, making this his directorial debut)
- 1994–2009 ER as Dr. David Morgenstern
- 1998 The Lionhearts as Leo Lionheart
- 1998 Superman: The Animated Series as the Director (1 episode)
- 1999–2000 Sports Night as Sam Donovan
- 1999, 2000 Batman Beyond as Aaron Herbst and Karros
- 2006–2007 Curious George as The Narrator (replaced by Rino Romano from season 2 onward)
- 2011–2021 Shameless as Frank Gallagher
- 2022 The Dropout as Richard Fuisz
Tropes
- The Chew Toy: In several films, it's a particular joy to watch his characters be sad and pathetic, which they often are, like in Fargo and Boogie Nights. It's such a Running Gag that he plays losers that he plays a professional loser who's such a loser he makes other people lose in The Cooler.
- The Everyman: Often plays such roles, finding the darkness within the unassuming, put-upon Working Joes, notable examples would be roles like in Fargo and Pleasantville, which play on that.
- Happily Married: To Felicity Huffman since 1997.
- Playing Against Type:
- In one episode of Batman Beyond he voiced a ruthless mercenary who was able to take on Batman in hand-to-hand combat with none of the pathetic or everyman traits of his usual characters. It’s especially noticeable since he had voiced a character more in line with his usual type in another episode.
- In Superman: The Animated Series he voiced a powerful psychic who ran a center that helped kids with superpowers learn to control their powers.
- In Seabiscuit he played a fast-talking, charismatic radio host.
- His longest running character of Frank Gallagher in the American adaptation of Shameless is a substance-abusing reprobate who can be as eloquent as he is depraved.
