Jeremy Strong facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jeremy Strong
Strong at 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Born	(1978-12-25) December 25, 1978 (age 46) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Education	Yale University (BA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2004–present
Spouse(s)	Emma Wall ​ (m. 2016)​
Children	3
Awards	Full list

Jeremy Strong (born December 25, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for his very dedicated acting style in his roles. He has won many awards, including a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He was also nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. In 2022, Time magazine named Strong one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Strong studied at Yale University. He also continued his acting training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago. His first play off-Broadway was Defiance in 2006. He made his Broadway debut in 2008 in A Man for All Seasons. That same year, he appeared in his first film, Humboldt County. He had small roles in films like Lincoln (2012) and Zero Dark Thirty (2012). He gained early attention for his roles in Parkland (2013) and The Big Short (2015).

Strong became widely known for playing Kendall Roy in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023). For this role, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama. Strong also appeared in films such as The Gentlemen (2019), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020), and Armageddon Time (2022). In 2024, he returned to Broadway in the play An Enemy of the People, winning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He also received praise and award nominations for his role as Roy Cohn in the 2024 film The Apprentice.

Early Life and School Days

Jeremy Strong was born on December 25, 1978, in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents are Maureen and David Strong. His mother has Irish roots, and his father's family is Jewish from Russia. His grandfather was a plumber in Queens. His mother worked as a nurse, and his father worked in places for young people who had broken the law.

Jeremy grew up in a tough neighborhood in Jamaica Plain, Boston. He often felt like he wanted to leave that area. His family was working class. They couldn't afford to go on vacations. So, they put a canoe on blocks in their backyard. Jeremy and his brothers would sit in it and pretend to travel. His parents had a difficult relationship and later divorced.

When Jeremy was 10, his family moved to Sudbury. They moved there for better schools. Strong remembers Sudbury as a "country-club town" where his family didn't quite fit in. This is where he started acting. He joined a children's theater group and performed in musicals. Chris Evans' older sister was in the group with him. Chris Evans was impressed by Jeremy's acting even then. Later, Evans and Strong acted together in a high school play called A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Strong looked up to actors like Daniel Day-Lewis, Al Pacino, and Dustin Hoffman. These actors are famous for how much they prepare for their roles. Strong put posters of their movies on his wall and followed their careers closely. When the movie The Crucible, starring Day-Lewis, was filmed near Boston in 1996, Strong got a job on the crew. He even held a branch outside a window during a scene. He also worked on the sound crew for the movie Amistad. He held a boom mike over Anthony Hopkins during a speech. He also helped edit Pacino's first movie as a director, Looking for Richard.

After high school, Strong applied to colleges with a letter from DreamWorks, the company that made Amistad. He was accepted at Yale University with a scholarship. He planned to study drama. But on his first day, he found the drama class confusing. So, he quickly changed his major to English.

Strong kept acting in plays at Yale. These plays were put on by the student-run Yale Dramatic Association, called Dramat. He performed in plays that Pacino had acted in, like American Buffalo. During one summer at Yale, Strong had an internship with Hoffman's movie company. He also studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

Acting Career

Early Stage Roles (2001–2008)

After Yale, Strong moved to New York City in 2001. He lived in a small apartment in SoHo and worked as a waiter. He tried to get auditions by sending his headshots and recordings to talent agencies. For almost a year, he didn't get any calls. He even asked his high school friend Chris Evans, who was already a successful actor, for help. Evans set up a meeting with his agent, but the agent didn't sign Strong.

The next summer, Strong joined a summer theater group at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Strong also worked behind the scenes in theater and film. In 2003, he became Daniel Day-Lewis's personal assistant for the movie The Ballad of Jack and Rose. Strong was very dedicated to helping Day-Lewis on set. Day-Lewis later wrote Strong a note with important advice about acting. Strong has kept the contents of this note private.

Strong returned to Williamstown in 2004. He acted with Jessica Chastain, Chris Messina, and Michelle Williams in The Cherry Orchard. He became good friends with them. For a while, he even lived in the basement of Michelle Williams' house when he couldn't afford his own place.

In the mid-2000s, he worked as a typist for playwright Wendy Wasserstein. At night, he performed a one-man play in a small bar. Strong prepared for his role as a marine in the play Defiance (2005) by taking part in Marine weapons training. Critics described his performance as "intense." In 2008, Strong played a young Baruch Spinoza in New Jerusalem. He studied early 17th-century Dutch philosophy for the part. Also in 2008, he had to step in for an actor with only six hours' notice. He memorized all the lines by the next night and received good reviews. This helped him sign with an agent.

Film Roles and Succession (2009–2023)

Later in 2008, Strong made his Broadway debut in A Man for All Seasons. He played Sir Richard Rich opposite Frank Langella. The New York Times called Strong a "talented" actor. His role in Defiance helped him get his first film role in Humboldt County. He played Abraham Lincoln's secretary, John George Nicolay, in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012).

He also played a CIA analyst in Zero Dark Thirty (2012) and Lee Harvey Oswald in Parkland (2013). He was James Reeb in Selma (2014) and a real estate developer in Molly's Game (2017). Strong was supposed to have a main role in Kathryn Bigelow's film Detroit (2017). He practiced shooting guns for the part. But he was let go after the first day because his character wasn't working in the story. Strong later convinced her to give him another small part in the film.

Strong in 2014

Strong's role in the 2015 film The Big Short led director Adam McKay to offer him a part in the TV series Succession. Strong first wanted to play Roman Roy, the youngest son. But that part went to Kieran Culkin. So, Strong auditioned for the middle son, Kendall Roy. This role was a huge breakthrough for him. Critics praised his performance, and he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2020. He also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama and a Screen Actors Guild Award. TVLine named Strong "Performer of the Year" in 2021 for his work on Succession. They said his performance was "complex and fascinating."

Strong appeared in Guy Ritchie's action comedy The Gentlemen (2019). In 2020, he reunited with director Aaron Sorkin. He played anti-war activist Jerry Rubin in the Netflix drama The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). Critics praised his performance. The film received many awards and nominations. In November 2021, it was announced that Strong would star in and produce The Best of Us. This TV series is about the 9/11 first responders. He also acted in the film Armageddon Time (2022) with Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins. The film premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

Career Expansion (2024–Present)

In 2024, Strong returned to Broadway in the play An Enemy of the People. He won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his role as Dr. Thomas Stockmann. This character is a doctor who tries to warn people that their town's spa water is polluted. He then played Roy Cohn, a powerful lawyer, in the movie The Apprentice. This film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Critics called his performance "magnetic." For this role, Strong was nominated for several awards, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

In 2025, Strong was invited to be a jury member at the 78th Cannes Film Festival. He was also asked to join the Actors Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Strong will next play Jon Landau, who managed Bruce Springsteen. This will be in the upcoming film Deliver Me from Nowhere. The movie is based on a book about the making of Springsteen's 1982 album Nebraska.

Acting Style and Philosophy

Strong in 2019

Like his acting heroes Daniel Day-Lewis and Dustin Hoffman, Strong prepares very deeply for his roles. He believes an actor should go through what the character goes through. For the movie The Judge, he played a character with a developmental disability. He spent time with an autistic man, just as Hoffman did for Rain Man. For The Big Short, Strong followed the real person his character was based on. He copied his habits, like chewing gum all the time. For his Succession audition, he read a book about the Murdoch family. He learned that one of Murdoch's sons tied his shoes very tightly. Strong did the same for the audition, thinking it showed the character's inner strength.

Strong's dedication to acting has sometimes led to injuries. In one Succession episode, his character had to run a long distance. Strong wanted to be truly sweaty and out of breath. He ran as fast as he could in dress shoes and fractured his foot. In another episode, he jumped off a 5-foot platform while filming. This hurt his leg and required a brace. The scene was not even used in the end.

Strong rarely rehearses. He wants "every scene to feel like I'm encountering a bear in the woods." He knows this approach might not be popular with his co-stars. On the set of The Trial of the Chicago 7, Strong even asked to be sprayed with tear gas. Director Aaron Sorkin said no because of the many other people on set.

On Succession, Strong kept some distance from his co-stars. He would time his visits to the makeup trailer to be alone. His co-star Kieran Culkin said Strong is "in a bubble" before filming. Matthew Macfadyen said Strong's methods are "not the main event." Brian Cox, who plays Strong's father on the show, worried about Strong's intense approach. But he also said Strong's performance "is always extraordinary and excellent."

People often call these techniques "method acting." But Strong prefers "identity diffusion." He says he doesn't use his own life experiences. He tries to remove everything that is not the character. He wants to be a "complete vessel for the work." He compares his approach to a jazz pianist who surrenders to a "great power" to make music.

Strong admits his intense work style might cause problems. He has said, "I don't know if I even believe in balance... I believe in extremity." However, his wife, who is a psychiatrist, says he does a good job of balancing his work with his family life.

Strong often chooses films based on real events. These include Selma, Detroit, and The Trial of the Chicago 7. He has said he wants to tell "meaningful stories," especially films about social justice.

Besides Day-Lewis, Hoffman, and Pacino, Strong is also influenced by actors like Isabelle Huppert, Meryl Streep, Anthony Hopkins, and Laurence Olivier.

Personal Life

In 2016, Strong married Emma Wall, a Danish psychiatrist. They met four years earlier at a party in New York. They have three daughters. They live in New York and also have homes in Copenhagen and Tisvilde, Denmark. Strong has said he is not a religious person.

Acting Credits

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Humboldt County	Peter
	The Happening	Private Auster
2009	The Messenger	Return soldier
	Kill Daddy Good Night	Bruce
	Contact High	Carlos
2010	The Romantics	Pete
	Yes	Man	Short film
2011	Love Is Like Life But Longer	Blind man
2012	Lincoln	John George Nicolay
	Robot & Frank	Jake
	Please, Alfonso	Alfonso	Short film
	See Girl Run	Brandon
	Zero Dark Thirty	Thomas
2013	Parkland	Lee Harvey Oswald
2014	The Judge	Dale Palmer
	Time Out of Mind	Jack
	Selma	James Reeb
2015	Black Mass	Josh Bond
	The Big Short	Vinny Daniel
2017	Detroit	Attorney Lang
	Molly's Game	Dean Keith
2019	Serenity	Reid Miller
	The Gentlemen	Matthew Berger
2020	The Trial of the Chicago 7	Jerry Rubin
2022	Armageddon Time	Irving Graff
2024	The Apprentice	Roy Cohn
2025	Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere	Jon Landau	Post-production

Television

Theatre

Awards and Nominations

Jeremy Strong has won many awards for his acting on stage and screen. For his role as Kendall Roy in the HBO series Succession (2018–2023), he received a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Critics' Choice Television Award. He also won two Screen Actors Guild Awards with the cast. For his role as Doctor Thomas Stockmann in the Broadway play An Enemy of the People, he won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play. Most recently, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Golden Globe Awards for his role as Roy Cohn in The Apprentice.

See also

In Spanish: Jeremy Strong para niños

• List of actors with Academy Award nominations
• List of Primetime Emmy Award winners
• List of Golden Globe winners