Childhood & Early Life
Tony Goldwyn was born on May 20, 1960 in Los Angeles, California, USA to actress Jennifer Howard and movie producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr.
His paternal grandfather, Samuel Goldwyn, was a movie producer and his grandmother, Frances Howard, was an actress. His maternal grandfather, Sidney Howard, was a playwright and his grandmother, Clare Eames, was a renowned actress.
He attended the Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He also attended the private research university, Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts for his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. He then attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
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Career
Goldwyn’s acting career began almost immediately after graduating from drama school. From 1986 to 1987, he appeared in a number of minor roles in both TV series and movies. He was seen in movies like ‘Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives’ and in TV shows like ‘St. Elsewhere’, ‘Matlock’, ‘CBS Summer Playhouse’ and ‘Designing Women’.
In 1988, he started getting more roles and appeared in the shows, ‘Hunter’ and ‘L.A. Law’. But his first important role came in the miniseries ‘Favorite Son’ when he played the recurring role of Tim.
While acting on TV shows, Goldwyn got his first major breakthrough role in 1990when he was offered to be a part of the movie, ‘Ghost’. He portrayed the role of Carl Bruner and got to work with the likes of Patrick Swayze, Whoopie Goldberg and Demi Moore. The movie and the cast went onto win multiple BAFTA Awards and Academy Awards.
During the period of 1991 to 1992, Tony Goldwyn became a familiar face in the world of TV. He was seen as Dr. Carl Fairbanks in the TV series ‘Tales from the Crypt’ and as Jody Powell in the TV movie, ‘Iran: Day of Crisis’. He was also seen in movies like ‘Kuffs’, ‘Traces of Red’ and ‘The Last Mile’.
In 1993, Goldwyn took up the role of Fletcher Cole in the critically acclaimed thriller, ‘The Pelican Brief’, and starred opposite industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts. He was praised for his performance. The same year, he was also seen in TV movies like ‘Love Matters’ and ‘Taking the Heat’.
It was in 1995 that Tony Goldwyn portrayed some major characters in both TV and cinema. He played roles like; Robert Steed in ‘A Woman of Independent Means’, Clark Clifford in ‘Truman’ and James Warren in ‘Under Fire’. He also depicted the role of Harold Nixon in ‘Nixon’, a movie which received five Academy Award nominations.
The actor was seen in a number of roles from 1996 to 1997 in movies and TV series like ‘The Boys Next Door’, ‘The Substance of Fire’, ‘Kiss the Girls’, ‘Trouble on the Corner’ and ‘The Song of the Lark’.
In 1998, Tony was cast in the role of Neil Armstrong in the HBO series, ‘From the Earth to the Moon’. He was also seen as Frank O’Brian in the movie, ‘The Lesser Evil’. These roles earned him praises from critics and viewers alike.
1999 saw the actor lending his voice for the character Tarzan in the Disney classic movie, ‘Tarzan’. He later reprised his voice acting skills for all the video games based on the movie. For the next few years, he was seen acting in movies like ‘Bounce’ and ‘An American Rhapsody’.
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Goldwyn’s next big break came in 2003 when he landed the role of Colonel Bagley in the Academy Award-nominated movie, ‘The Last Samurai’. He made sure that his screen presence was felt in a movie that also starred actors like Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe and Billy Connolly. The same year, he played Greg Knowles in the TV series, ‘Without a Trace’.
The viewers got to see the actor in ‘Ghosts Never Sleep’, ‘The L Word’, ‘Romance and Cigarettes’ and ‘American Gun’ in 2005. The next year saw Goldwyn taking up multiple roles. He not only acted as Dr. Emmett Meridian in the TV series ‘Dexter’, but also directed episodes of ‘Return to Sender’, ‘Shrink Wrap’, ‘It’s Alive’ and ‘An Inconvenient Lie’.
Tony had some major roles to play from 2007to 2009. He was cast in the recurring role of Frank Goren in the TV series, ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’. The actor was also seen as John in the movie, ‘The Last House on the Left’, and as Judge Henry Baxter in ‘The Good Wife’.
He was involved in directing several shows from 2010 to 2012. He also directed a couple of episodes of the TV series, ‘The Divide’.
In 2014, he played the character of Andrew Prior in the science fiction thriller, ‘Divergent’. In 2016, he played the lead role of Barry Norris in the action-horror flick, ‘The Belko Experiment’.
Though he has played a number of roles throughout his career, the actor is perhaps most familiar for playing the lead role of President Fitzgerald Grant in the Emmy Award-winning TV series, ‘Scandal’. He has not only acted in the show, but has also directed eight episodes. The upcoming seventh season will be the last one of the show.
In 2017, the actor played lead roles in movies like ‘A Little Something for Your Birthday’ and ‘Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House’.
Throughout his acting career, Goldwyn has performed on Off-Broadway shows like ‘Spike Heels’ in 1992 and ‘The Water's Edge’ in 2006.
Personal Life
Tony Goldwyn exchanged marriage vows with Jane Michelle Musky in 1987. He has two daughters, Anna Musky Tess and Frances Goldwyn. The actor also has five siblings and his brother John is the executive producer of ‘Dexter’. His brother Peter is the President of Samuel Goldwyn Films.
It was rumored in March 2017 that he was having an affair with co-star Huma Abedin when they were seen together in Disneyland. But the rumors were dismissed by his wife and by the actor himself.
Goldwyn is an ex-president of the Creative Coalition and is involved with Americares Foundation. He is also an active supporter of Hillary Clinton.
Like many other actors, he too revealed in 2017 that he was sexually harassed by someone from the movie industry when he was starting his career.
