Oliver Platt facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Oliver Platt
Platt in 2010
Born	(1960-01-12) January 12, 1960 (age 65) Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	American
Education	Tufts University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1985–present
Spouse(s)	Camilla Campbell ​ (m. 1992)​
Children	3
Parent(s)	Nicholas Platt (father)
Relatives	Adam Platt (brother)

Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is an American actor. He is well-known for his roles in movies and TV shows. He has been nominated for many awards. These include five Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.

Platt started acting in the 1988 movie Married to the Mob. He became famous for his roles in films like The Impostors (1998) and Frost/Nixon (2008). He also appeared in Working Girl (1988), Flatliners (1990), and Beethoven (1992). Other popular movies include Dr. Dolittle (1998) and 2012 (2009).

On TV, Platt has had important roles in series such as The Big C and Chicago Med. He was nominated for Emmys for his work in The West Wing and Huff. More recently, he plays Uncle Jimmy in the Hulu series The Bear.

Platt also acts on stage. He made his Broadway debut in the play Shining City in 2006. For this role, he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He later starred in the musical Guys and Dolls on Broadway.

Oliver Platt's Early Life and School

His Family

Oliver Platt was born on January 12, 1960. He was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. His parents were Americans. His mother was Sheila Maynard, a social worker. His father, Nicholas Platt, was a diplomat. A diplomat is someone who represents their country in other nations. His father worked as a U.S. ambassador in Pakistan, Zambia, and the Philippines.

Oliver's older brother, Adam Platt, is a food critic. This means he writes reviews about restaurants. Oliver's family moved back to the United States when he was just three months old.

Growing Up

Because his father was a diplomat, Oliver Platt moved around a lot. He spent parts of his childhood in Asia and in Washington, D.C. He went to twelve different schools! This included the American School in Japan. Oliver has said that he sometimes wishes he had grown up in one place.

His family often visited Washington, D.C. They had season tickets to watch the Redskins football team. Oliver is also a big fan of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.

When he was nine, Oliver visited the Kennedy Center. There, he saw a play that inspired him to become an actor. He watched a performance by a young Morgan Freeman. Oliver said Freeman was "so riveting" and held the audience's attention. For Oliver, drama classes helped him feel stable. He said acting gave him a "subculture to plug into wherever I ended up."

His Education

Platt went to a boarding school in Colorado. Later, he studied drama at Tufts University. There, he became good friends with actor Hank Azaria. After college, he worked in theater in Boston for three years. He called this "the best training I could have had."

He then joined a theater group called Shakespeare and Company. They toured schools, which helped him get his Actors' Equity card. This card is needed to work professionally in theater. After that, he moved to New York.

In New York, Oliver performed in many Off-Broadway plays. He met actor Bill Murray at a Christmas party. Murray saw Oliver perform and told director Jonathan Demme about him. This led to Oliver's first movie role in Married to the Mob in 1988.

Oliver Platt's Acting Career

Oliver Platt chooses acting roles that are "different from what I just did." After his first movie, Married to the Mob, he appeared in many other films. These include Working Girl (1988), Flatliners (1990), and Beethoven (1992). He also starred in The Three Musketeers (1993) as Porthos.

In 1998, Platt worked with Stanley Tucci in The Impostors. They played two actors who pretend to be other people. Tucci and Platt created these characters together years before.

In 1999, Oliver Platt played Hector in the movie Lake Placid. Hector was a rich man who loved crocodiles. Oliver described Hector as "abrasive and obnoxious" but hoped he would "grow on you."

Oliver Platt's first main role on TV was in the show Deadline. He played Wallace Benton, a newspaper columnist. The show had a good cast but was canceled quickly. After this, Oliver avoided TV roles for a while. However, he later took a guest role in The West Wing. He played Oliver Babish, a serious White House lawyer. He was nominated for an Emmy for this role.

His role as Russell Tupper in the TV series Huff (2004-2006) was very popular. He received two Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe.

In 2005, Platt was in the movie The Ice Harvest. He played a businessman involved in a crime. He also played Papprizzio in Casanova. For his role in Casanova, he won an award for best supporting actor.

Platt greets fans outside the Nederlander Theatre in Manhattan after a performance of Guys and Dolls on February 21, 2009.

In 2006, Oliver Platt made his Broadway debut in Shining City. He played the main character, John. The play's director said Oliver has a lot of "humanity." He can make people laugh and feel sad at the same time. Oliver visited Dublin to prepare for the role. He was nominated for a Tony award for "Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play."

In 2007, Platt played Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in the TV mini-series The Bronx Is Burning. He joined the show because John Turturro was playing Billy Martin. Oliver said, "This thing lives or dies by that portrayal."

In 2009, Platt starred as Nathan Detroit in the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls. He performed alongside Lauren Graham. The show ran for 113 performances.

Platt was also in the disaster movie 2012 (2009). He played Carl Anheuser, the White House Chief of Staff. In 2011, he appeared in the X-Men spin-off, X-Men: First Class. In 2012, he was in the romantic comedy The Oranges. He also voiced Wiser the Owl in the animated movie Dorothy of Oz (2013).

Oliver Platt's Personal Life

Oliver Platt married Mary Camilla Bonsal Campbell on September 12, 1992. They got married in Kittery, Maine. They have three children, born in 1995, 1997, and 1999.

In 1998, Oliver had an open airline ticket. This meant he could fly home often when he was filming. His family did not travel with him to filming locations. In an interview, he said he chose to focus on film and TV roles. This was because it was easier for his family life than theater work. Oliver has a home in North Haven, Maine.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Video games

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Oliver Platt para niños