Biografia

Researched his role as Arnold Rothstein in Boardwalk Empire: L'impero del crimine (2010) so thoroughly that the show's writers often used him as a reference point.

As of 2018, has appeared in seven films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: A Serious Man (2009), Hugo Cabret (2011), Lincoln (2012), Arrival (2016), Chiamami col tuo nome (2017), La forma dell'acqua - The Shape of Water (2017) and The Post (2017). His presence in three Best Picture nominees in 2017 makes him only the second person to achieve this feat in the new millennium after John C. Reilly in 2002. Of these, The Shape of Water is a Best Picture winner.

He studied at Juilliard school from 1988 to 1992, having been a member of the Drama Division's Group 21. He studied acting almost around the world, including at University of California in Los Angeles, the Vilnius Conservatory in Lithuania, the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, and the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain at the University of London. He also studied mime with the great Marcel Marceau at the World Centre.

He constantly plays real life figures, most notably supporting roles in films such as The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer (2009), Lincoln (2012), Hitchcock (2012), La grande partita (2014), L'ultima parola - La vera storia di Dalton Trumbo (2015), Steve Jobs (2015) and Miles Ahead (2015); as a lead he portrayed Edward Hopper in two short films: La Muse (2012) and Hopper Stories (2012); and on TV, he's best known for portraying Arnold Rothstein in Boardwalk Empire.

He had been a professional stage actor for 10 years when he made his first screen appearance (in an unnamed part) in Il gioco dei rubini (1998). It would be another 11 years before he became a well-known screen actor, thanks to the Coen Brothers A Serious Man (2009).

Film, for me, has been a process of learning on the job.

I've done a lot of theater work that has been quite diverse. I feel very fortunate to have had many different people think of me in many different ways. So, as an actor that's all you - all I want is diversity. So far in film and television work I have done has not been as diverse, and I hope it grows to be.

I think the theater work and the on-camera work feed off each other. My theater work has become more simple, and my on-camera work has become more energized or more spontaneous.

Most of the people in New York are very often from somewhere else.

I wanted to be a cartoonist. I was one of those kids who sat around and drew in my room all the time.