William Lyman (born May 20, 1948) is an American actor. Being known for his polished, resonant voice, Lyman has narrated the PBS series Frontline since its second season in 1984 and played William Tell in the action/adventure television series Crossbow.

Filmography

• 2026Contaminated: The Carpet Industry's Toxic Legacy — Narrator
• 2026Scammed — Narrator
• 2026The Deal: Trump Bukele & The Gangs of El Salvador — Narrator (voice)
• 2026The War Cabinet — Narrrator
• 2025Battle for Tibet — Narrator
• 2025The Arborist — Arthur Randolph
• 2025The Electric State — Documentary Narrator (voice)
• 2025The Rise of RFK Jr. — Narrator
• 2025Trump's Power & the Rule of Law — Narrator (voice over)
• 2024Aftermath — Joe Kozak
• 2024Children of Ukraine — Narrator
• 2024Crisis on Campus — Narrator
• 2024Democracy on Trial — Narrator
• 2023Clarence and Ginni Thomas: Politics, Power, and the Supreme Court — narrator
• 2023Inside the Uvalde Response — Narrator
• 2023Netanyahu, America & the Road to War in Gaza — Narrator
• 2023Putin and the Presidents — Narrator
• 2023The Discord Leaks — Narrator
• The Power of Big Oil — Narrator (voice)
• 2021America After 9/11 — narrator
• 2021Boeing's Fatal Flaw — Narrator (voice)
• 2021Mother/Android — Captain
• 2021Shots Fired — Narrator
• 2021Taliban Takeover — Narrator
• 2020Amazon Empire: The Rise and Reign of Jeff Bezos — Narrator
• Animaniacs — Narrator (voice)
• 2020Battle for Hong Kong — Narrator
• 2020Christmas on Ice — Mayor Greenwood
• 2020The Choice 2020: Trump vs. Biden — Narrator (voice)
• 2020United States of Conspiracy — Narrator (voice)
• 2018UN Sex Abuse Scandal — Narrator (voice)
• 2017Divided States of America — Narrator
• 2017Frontline: President Trump — Narrator
• 2017Hunting ISIS — Narrator
• 2017Iraq Uncovered — Narrator
• 2017Life on Parole — Narrator
• 2017Out of Gitmo — narrator
• 2016Business of Disaster — Narrator (voice)
• 2016Chasing Heroin — Narrator
• 2016The Choice 2016 — Narrator
• 2015Isis in Afghanistan
• 2014Generation Like — Narrator (voice)
• 2014Losing Iraq — Narrator
• 2014Separate and Unequal — Narrator
• United States of Secrets — Narrator
• 2014United States of Secrets (Part Two): Privacy Lost — Narrator
• 2013A Death in St. Augustine — Narrator (voice)
• 2012Inside Japan's Nuclear Meltdown — Narrator
• 2012Last Man Out — Walt Whitman (voice)
• 2012The Suicide Plan — Narrator
• 2011Bud Greenspan Presents Vancouver 2010: Stories of Olympic Glory — Narrator
• 2011The Anthrax Files
• 2010Behind Taliban Lines
• 2010The Other Guys — Frontline Narration App
• 2009The Boneyard — Narrator
• 2008Abuse of Power — Nolan Flannery
• 2008Iron Man — Award Ceremony Narrator (voice)
• 2008Rules of Engagement — Narrator
• 2008The War Briefing — Narrator
• 2008What Doesn't Kill You — Sully
• 2008Young & Restless in China
• 2007Bud Greenspan’s Torino 2006: Stories of Olympic Glory — Narrator
• 2007I'm Paige Wilson — Ben Foxworthy
• 2007Mattie Fresno and the Holoflux Universe — Moe Fresno
• 2007On Our Watch — Narrator
• 2006Fierce People — Documentary Narrator (voice)
• Is It Real? — Narrator (voice)
• 2006Little Children — Narrator (voice)
• 2006The Age of AIDS — Narrator (voice)
• Commander in Chief — Teddy Bridges, Teddy Bridges (uncredited)
• 2005Our Fathers — Wilson Rogers Jr.
• 2005The New Asylums — narrator
• 2004American Meltdown — Homeland Chief Utley
• 2004Golden Road: Today's Senior Drivers — Narrator
• 2004The Secret History of the Credit Card — Narrator
• 2003Coming Home from Space: The Challenge of Re-Entry — Narrator
• 2003Mystic River — FBI Agent Birden
• 2003Salt Lake City 2002: Stories of Olympic Glory — Narrator
• Threat Matrix — Roger Atkins
• 2003Truth, War and Consequences — Narrator (voice)
• 2003Wake Island: Alamo of the Pacific — Narrator
• 2003Watergate Plus 30: Shadow of History — Narrator (voice)
• 2002Alma Mater
• 2002American Porn — Narrator
• 2002The Pink Satin Suit — Director
• 2001Dog Days — Dad
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent — Roger Jameson
• 2001Sinking the Lusitania — Narrator
• 2001Sydney 2000: Stories of Olympic Glory — Narrator
• 2001The Day Reagan Was Shot — Narrator (voice)
• Ed — Gus McGraw
• 2000Satan in the Suburbs — Narrator (voice)
• 2000Warriors of the French Foreign Legion — Narrator
• 1999Michael Jordan: His Airness — Narrator
• 1999The Autumn Heart — Doctor
• 1999The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela
• The West Wing — Narrator (voice)
• 1998A Perfect Murder — Jason Gates
• 1998Nagano ’98 Olympics: Stories of Honor and Glory — Narrator
• 1998The Siege — FBI Director
• 1997Atlanta’s Olympic Glory — Narrator
• 1997Floating — Van's Father
• 1997The Bay of Pigs — Narrator (voice)
• 1996Celtic Pride — Rich Man
• 1996The Crucible — Isaiah Goodkind
• The Ultimate Guide — Narrator
• 1996The Ultimate Guide: Sharks — Narrator
• 1996The Ultimate Guide: T-Rex — Narrator (voice)
• 1996Welcome to the Dollhouse — Mr. Edwards
• 1995The Search for Satan
• 1994Lillehammer ’94: 16 Days of Glory — Narrator
• 1994Part Two: The Mao Years 1949–1976 — Narrator (voice)
• 1993The Arming of Saudi Arabia — Narrator
• 1993The Mysterious Career of Lee Harvey Oswald — Narrator (voice) (US version, Who Was Lee Harvey Oswald?)
• 1992School Ties — Swanson
• Hull High — John Deerborn
• Law & Order — Victor Conner
• 1990Nixon — Narrator (voice)
• 1989Crossbow: The Movie — William Tell
• 1989Hostile Takeover — Smolen
• The Simpsons — Narrator (voice)
• Crossbow — William Tell
• 1986Hostage in Iran — Narrator, Executive Producer
• 1985Einstein on the Beach: The Changing Image of Opera — narrator (himself)
• 1985Three Sovereigns for Sarah — Rev. Parris
• Three Sovereigns for Sarah — Rev. Parris
• Murder, She Wrote — Allan Wooster
• 1984The Mind of a Murderer: Part 1 — Narrator
• 1984The Mind of a Murderer: Part 2 — Narrator
• Vietnam: A Television History — Narrator
• American Playhouse — Reverend Parris
• NOVA — Narrator, Narrator (voice), Self - Narrator (voice)
• Another World
• News War — Narrator
• Yemen Under Siege — Narrator

Appearances as themselves (31)

• 2024The Choice 2024: Harris vs. Trump — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2022Lies, Politics and Democracy — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2022Ukraine: Life Under Russia's Attack — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2021China's COVID Secrets — Self - Narrator
• America's Great Divide: From Obama to Trump — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2020Once Upon a Time in Iraq — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2016Netanyahu at War — Self (narrator)
• 2016Saudi Arabia Uncovered — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2016Supplements and Safety — Self - Narrator
• 2016Terror in Europe — self
• 2015Obama at War — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2015Outbreak — Self - Narrator
• 2015Taliban Hunters — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2015The Fight for Yemen — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2014Firestone and the Warlord — Self - Narrator
• 2014Prison State — Himself - Narrator (Voice)
• 2014The Trouble with Antibiotics — Self - Reporter
• 2013League of Denial: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis — Himself - Narrator
• Money, Power & Wall Street — Self - Narrator
• 2007Endgame — Self - Narrator (voice)
• Frontline - News War — Self
• 2006Return of the Taliban — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 2006The Dark Side — Self - Narrator
• 2000Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain — Self - Narrator(voice)
• 1998Anatomy of a 'Homicide: Life on the Street' — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 1996NBA at 50 — Self - Narrator
• 1994Norse America — Self - Narrator (voice)
• Columbus and the Age of Discovery — Self - Narrator (voice)
• American Experience — Self - Narrator (voice)
• 1987The Mystery of the Lost Red Paint People — Self - Narrator (voice)
• Frontline — Self - Narrator (voice)