Jeremy Strong facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jeremy Strong
Strong in 2024
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 being very dedicated to his roles in movies and plays. He has won many awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He has also been nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. In 2022, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Jeremy Strong went to Yale University. He also studied acting 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. His first movie was the comedy Humboldt County in the same year. He had small parts in famous films like Lincoln (2012) and Zero Dark Thirty (2012). He then gained early notice for his roles in Parkland (2013) and The Big Short (2015). Strong became very well-known for playing Kendall Roy in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023). This role won him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Strong continued his career with main roles in movies 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. He won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for this role. In the same year, Strong was praised for playing Roy Cohn in the movie The Apprentice. This role earned him nominations for the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Academy Award.

Early Life and Education

Strong was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on Christmas Day in 1978. His parents were Maureen and David Strong. His father's family was Jewish. His grandfather worked as a plumber. His mother was a hospice nurse, and his father worked in places for young people in trouble. He grew up in a "rough neighborhood" in Boston called Jamaica Plain. He often said he wanted to leave that area. His family worked hard for their money. Since his parents could not afford trips, they put a canoe 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 Strong was 10, his family moved to Sudbury, Massachusetts, for better schools. Strong remembered Sudbury as a "country-club town" where his family did not quite fit in. His interest in acting started there. 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 Strong's acting. 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 bedroom wall. He followed their careers and read all their interviews. When the movie The Crucible was filmed near Boston in 1996, Strong got a job on the film crew. He even held a branch outside a window during a scene with Daniel Day-Lewis. Strong 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 Al Pacino's first movie as a director, Looking for Richard.

After high school, Strong applied to colleges with a letter from DreamWorks, who 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 decided to study English instead. Strong kept acting and starred in many plays at Yale. These plays were produced by the student-run Yale Dramatic Association. All the plays he chose were ones that Al Pacino had performed. These included American Buffalo and The Indian Wants the Bronx. Strong even arranged for Pacino to visit Yale. This visit was very expensive and almost caused problems for the student group. Strong admitted he was a "rogue agent" in planning the event. During one summer at Yale, Strong had an internship with Dustin Hoffman's production company. He also studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago.

Career

Early Career on Stage

After Yale, Strong moved to New York City in 2001. He lived in a small apartment in SoHo and worked as a waiter. He described his living situation as "gilded squalor," meaning he had expensive clothes but lived simply. When he was not working, he got free envelopes from FedEx offices. He used these to send his photos and recordings of his acting to talent agencies. For almost a year, he did not get any calls for auditions. To try and get an agent, Strong contacted his old high school friend Chris Evans. Evans had become successful after the movie Not Another Teen Movie. Evans set up a meeting for Strong with his agent, but the agent did not sign Strong.

The next summer, Strong got a spot in the summer acting group at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Strong continued to work behind the scenes in theater and film. In 2003, he worked as an assistant at a film company. This led to him becoming Daniel Day-Lewis's personal assistant for the movie The Ballad of Jack and Rose. On set, he was so dedicated to Day-Lewis that the crew called him "Cletus." Strong said that Day-Lewis wrote him a note at the end of the movie. This note contained important ideas about acting that Strong still believes in. He has not shared what was in the note out of respect for Day-Lewis.

Strong returned to Williamstown in 2004. He acted with Jessica Chastain, Chris Messina, and Michelle Williams in The Cherry Orchard. He became friends with all three actors. For some time in the late 2000s, he lived in the basement of Michelle Williams' house in Brooklyn because he could not 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 in Midtown Manhattan. Wasserstein noticed how much time Strong spent watching her building's Irish doorman for his role. She thought about writing a play based on Strong and the doorman, but she passed away in 2006 before she could.

By this time, Strong started getting roles in plays that were not on Broadway. He took part in Marine training to prepare for his role as a marine in Defiance. He also studied old Dutch philosophy to play a young Baruch Spinoza in New Jerusalem in 2008. Also in 2008, Strong was asked to fill in for an actor with only six hours' notice. By the next night, he had learned all the lines. He received good reviews for this performance and was able to sign with an agent.

Film Roles and "Succession"

Later in 2008, Strong made his Broadway debut in A Man for All Seasons. He played Sir Richard Rich opposite Frank Langella. A reviewer from The New York Times called Strong a "talented" actor. He was chosen as a special fellow by Lincoln Center Theater. He was also nominated for an award twice for his acting. Strong's role in Defiance helped him get his first movie role in Humboldt County. He played Abraham Lincoln's secretary, John George Nicolay, in Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln (2012).

He then played a CIA analyst in Kathryn Bigelow's film Zero Dark Thirty (2012). He played Lee Harvey Oswald in Parkland (2013). He was James Reeb in Ava DuVernay's civil rights film Selma (2014). He also played a real estate developer in Aaron Sorkin's film 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, according to Bigelow, "the character wasn't working." 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 was first interested in playing Roman Roy, the youngest son. But that part went to Kieran Culkin. Strong then auditioned for the middle son, Kendall Roy. This role was a big breakthrough for his career. Strong's acting as Kendall Roy received great praise from critics. 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 wrote that Strong had created a complex and fascinating character.

Strong appeared in Guy Ritchie's action comedy The Gentlemen (2019). In 2020, he worked again with Aaron Sorkin. He played a main role as anti-war activist Jerry Rubin in the Netflix drama The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020). A reviewer from The Hollywood Reporter said Strong gave Jerry a "touching innocence." For his acting, he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. The film was highly praised and nominated for 6 Academy Awards. In November 2021, it was reported that Strong would star in and produce a TV series called The Best of Us. This series is about the people who helped after the 9/11 attacks. He also acted in James Gray's film Armageddon Time (2022) with Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins. The film was shown for the first time at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. A reviewer from NPR said Strong was "terrific" as the father, who was a plumber with a big heart.

Recent Projects

In 2024, Strong returned to Broadway in the play An Enemy of the People. He won the Tony Award for Best 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 lawyer and mentor to Donald Trump, in the movie The Apprentice. This movie was shown at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. A reviewer from Variety called his performance "magnetic."

Strong will next play Jon Landau, who was Bruce Springsteen's manager. This will be in a movie called Deliver Me from Nowhere. The movie is based on a book about the making of Springsteen's 1982 album Nebraska. He will also be in James Gray's next film.

Acting Style

Strong in 2019

Like his favorite actors Daniel Day-Lewis and Dustin Hoffman, Strong prepares very carefully for his roles. He often tries to experience what his character would go through. He has said, "I think you have to go through whatever the ordeal is that the character has to go through." For the movie The Judge, he played the main character's younger brother, who had a developmental disability. Strong spent time with an autistic man, just as Hoffman did for Rain Man. He also asked for special props for his character that were not in the script. His co-star Robert Downey Jr. said Strong "crosses the Rubicon," meaning he goes all the way. For The Big Short, Strong followed the real person his character was based on, Vincent Daniel. He noticed Daniel's habits, like chewing gum all the time. Strong did this in all his scenes. For his Succession audition, he read a book about media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his family. The book mentioned that Murdoch's son James tied his shoes very tightly. Strong did the same for the audition, believing it showed the character's "inner strength."

Strong's dedication to his acting has sometimes caused him injuries. In the first season of Succession, his character Kendall had to run a long way to a meeting. Strong wanted to be truly sweaty and out of breath in every take. So, he ran as fast and far as he could in dress shoes and fractured his foot. Two seasons later, he jumped off a 5-foot-high platform while filming an episode. He was wearing Gucci shoes. This hurt his leg and he needed a brace. That scene was not used in the end.

Strong usually does not rehearse much. He says he wants "every scene to feel like I'm encountering a bear in the woods." He admits this way of working might not be popular with his co-stars. On The Trial of the Chicago 7, Strong asked to be sprayed with tear gas. Director Aaron Sorkin said he did not like to say no to Jeremy. But there were many people on set, so he refused to spray them with gas.

On Succession, Strong sometimes kept himself separate from the rest of the cast. He would time his visits to the makeup trailer so he was the only one there. His co-star Kieran Culkin said Strong was in "a bubble" before filming. He said it was hard to describe Strong's process because he did not really see it. Culkin also said Strong's methods did not bother his own acting. Matthew Macfadyen said Strong's techniques were "not the main event." Brian Cox, who plays Strong's character's father on the show, worried that Strong's intense acting might lead to him getting tired too quickly. However, Cox added that Strong's acting "is always extraordinary and excellent."

These techniques are often called method acting. But Strong prefers the term "identity diffusion." This is because he does not use his own life experiences for his roles. He said, "If I have any method at all, it is simply this: to clear away anything—anything—that is not the character and the circumstances of the scene." He quoted jazz pianist Keith Jarrett to explain his approach: "I connect every music-making experience I have... with a great power, and if I do not surrender to it nothing happens."

Strong admits that the intensity he brings to his work might cause him problems. He has said, "I don't know if I even believe in balance... I believe in extremity." But his wife, who is a psychiatrist, said that he does a good job of balancing his work with his family life.

Strong often chooses movies based on real events, like Selma, Detroit, and The Trial of the Chicago 7. He has said he prefers such films. He wants to be part of telling stories that feel important, especially films about social justice.

Besides Day-Lewis, Hoffman, and Pacino, Strong has also mentioned Isabelle Huppert, Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins, Ben Kingsley, Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall, Ian Holm, and Kenneth Branagh as actors who inspire him.

Personal Life

In 2016, Strong married Emma Wall, a Danish psychiatrist. They had met four years earlier at a party in New York during Hurricane Sandy. They have three daughters, born in April 2018, November 2019, and September 2021. They live in New York and also have homes in Copenhagen and Tisvilde, Denmark.

Filmography

Film

Television

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Theatre

Awards and Nominations

Strong has received many awards for his acting on stage and in movies. For his role as Kendall Roy in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023), he won a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. 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 an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Roy Cohn in The Apprentice.

See also

In Spanish: Jeremy Strong para niños