John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an American actor. He has received several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards. Malkovich started his career as a charter member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago in 1976. He moved to New York City, acting in a Steppenwolf production of the Sam Shepard play True West (1980). He made his Broadway debut as Biff in the revival of the Arthur Miller play Death of a Salesman (1984). He directed the Harold Pinter play The Caretaker(1986) and acted in Lanford Wilson's Burn This(1987). Malkovich has received two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor nominations for his performances in Places in the Heart (1984) and In the Line of Fire (1993). Other films include The Killing Fields (1984), Empire of the Sun (1987), Dangerous Liaisons (1988), Of Mice and Men (1992), Con Air (1997), Rounders (1998), Being John Malkovich (1999), Shadow of the Vampire (2000), Ripley's Game (2002), Johnny English (2003), Burn After Reading (2008), and Red (2010). He has also produced films such as Ghost World (2001), Juno (2007), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). For his work on television, he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for Death of a Salesman (1985). His other Emmy-nominated roles were for portraying Herman J. Mankiewicz in RKO 281 (1999) and Charles Talleyrand in Napoléon (2002). Other television roles include  Crossbones (2014), Billions (2018–19), The New Pope (2020), and Space Force (2020–2022).

Filmography

• 2026In the Hand of Dante — Joe Black
• 2026Sacrifice — Gunnar
• 2026Wild Horse Nine — Chris
• Lubach
• 2025Opus — Alfred Moretti
• 2025The Life of Mirrors
• 2025The Yellow Tie — Sergiu Celibidache
• Bad Monkey — Spencer
• RIPLEY — Reeves Minot
• 2024The Line — Beach Miller
• The New Look — Lucien Lelong
• Unsinkable — Chief Engineer Pollard
• 2023Breaking Rachmaninoff
• 2023Fool's Paradise — Ed Cote
• 2023Mr. Blake at Your Service! — Andrew Blake
• 2023One Ranger — Geddes
• 2023Seneca — Seneca
• 2022Chariot — Dr. Karn
• 2022Mindcage — The Artist
• 2022Savage Salvation — Peter
• 2022Shattered — Ronald, Producer
• 2022White Elephant — Glen Follett
• 2021Rogue Hostage — Sam Nelson
• Ten Year Old Tom — Mr. B (voice)
• 2021The Survivalist — Aaron Ramsey
• 2020Arkansas — Bright
• 2020Ava — Duke
• Home Movie: The Princess Bride — The Impressive Clergyman
• 2020Last Call — Dr. Felton, Producer
• Space Force — Dr. Adrian Mallory
• The New Pope — Giovanni Paolo III / Sir John Brannox
• 2020Valley of the Gods — Wes Tauros
• 2019Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile — Judge Edward D. Cowart
• 2019Gotta Get Down to It — Sound Mixer
• 2019Velvet Buzzsaw — Piers
• 2018Bird Box — Douglas
• 2018Casanova Gene
• 2018Mile 22 — Bishop
• 2018Supercon — Sid Newberry
• The ABC Murders — Hercule Poirot
• 2018The Music Critic — The Narrator
• 2017About Love. Adults Only — Ed
• 2017Bullet Head — Walker
• 2017I Love You, Daddy — Leslie Goodwin
• 2017Just Call Me God — Satur Diman Cha
• 2017Ryuichi Sakamoto: CODA — Port (archive footage)
• 2017The Wilde Wedding — Laurence, Executive Producer
• 2017Unlocked — Bob Hunter
• Billions — Grigor Andolov
• 2016Deepwater Horizon — Donald Vidrine
• 2016Demolition — Producer
• 2016Psychogenic Fugue — All characters
• 2016Zoolander 2 — Chazz Spencer
• 2014Casanova Variations — Giacomo
• 2014Cesar Chavez — Bogdanovitch
• Crossbones — Blackbeard
• 2014Cut Bank — Sheriff Vogel
• 2014Jack Unterweger - The Charming Serial Killer
• 2014Penguins of Madagascar — Dave (voice)
• 2014Strap Hanging — Director
• 2014The Penguins of Madagascar - Operation: Penguin Takeover — Dave / Dr. Octavius Brine (voice)
• 2013Ecstasy — Vinny
• 2013RED 2 — Marvin Boggs
• 2013Siberian Education — Grandfather Kuzya
• 2013Warm Bodies — Colonel Grigio
• 2012Drunkboat — Mort
• 2012Lines of Wellington — General Wellington
• 2012The Perks of Being a Wallflower — Producer
• 2011Butterflies — Man
• 2011Transformers: Dark of the Moon — Bruce Brazos
• 2011Young Adult — Executive Producer
• 2010Abel — Executive Producer
• 2010Jonah Hex — Turnbull
• 2010RED — Marvin Boggs
• 2010Secretariat — Lucien Laurin
• 2010The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer — Jack Unterweger
• 2009SNL Presents: A Very Gilly Christmas — (archive footage)
• 2009Which Way Home — Executive Producer
• 2008Afterwards — Joseph Kay
• 2008Bloody Mondays & Strawberry Pies — Narrator
• 2008Burn After Reading — Osborne Cox
• 2008Changeling — Rev. Gustav Briegleb
• 2008Disgrace — David Lurie
• 2008Gardens of the Night — Michael
• 2008In Tranzit — Pavlov
• 2008Mutant Chronicles — Constantine
• Projectorparishilton
• 2008Snow Angel — Writer
• 2008The Great Buck Howard — Buck Howard
• 2007Beowulf — Unferth (Voice)
• 2007Juno — Producer
• 2007Polis Is This: Charles Olson and the Persistence of Place
• 2006Art School Confidential — Professor Sandiford, Producer
• 2006Eragon — King Galbatorix
• 2006Klimt — Gustav Klimt
• 2005Colour Me Kubrick — Alan Conway
• 2005The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy — Humma Kavula
• 2004The Libertine — Charles II, Producer
• 2003A Talking Picture — Comandante John Walesa
• 2003Johnny English — Pascal Sauvage
• 2003Kill the Poor — Producer
• 2002Adaptation. — John Malkovich (uncredited)
• 2002Hideous Man — Narrator, Director, Writer
• Napoleon — Charles de Talleyrand
• 2002Ripley's Game — Tom Ripley
• 2002The Dancer Upstairs — Abimael Guzman (uncredited), Director, Producer
• 2001Ghost World — Producer
• 2001Hotel — Omar Jonnson
• 2001I’m Going Home — John Crawford
• 2001Knockaround Guys — Teddy Deserve
• 2001Savage Souls — Monsieur Numance
• 2000Lady Behave — Director, Writer
• Les Misérables — Javert
• 2000Shadow of the Vampire — F. W. Murnau
• 1999Being John Malkovich — John Horatio Malkovich
• 1999Ladies Room — Roberto
• 1999RKO 281 — Herman Mankiewicz
• 1999The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc — Charles VII
• 1999Time Regained — Baron de Charlus
• 1998Rounders — Teddy KGB
• 1998The Man in the Iron Mask — Athos
• 1997Con Air — Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom
• 1996Mary Reilly — Dr. Henry Jekyll / Edward Hyde
• 1996Mulholland Falls — General Thomas Timms
• 1996The Ogre — Abel
• 1996The Portrait of a Lady — Gilbert Osmond
• 1995Beyond the Clouds — The Director
• 1995The Convent — Michael
• 1994Heart of Darkness — Kurtz
• Zona+ — Próprio
• 1993Alive — Carlitos Páez / Narrator (uncredited)
• 1993In the Line of Fire — Mitch Leary
• 1992Annie Lennox: Totally Diva
• 1992Jennifer Eight — Agent St. Anne
• 1992Of Mice and Men — Lennie Small
• 1991Old Times
• Performance — Deeley
• 1991Queens Logic — Eliot
• 1991Shadows and Fog — Clown
• 1991The Object of Beauty — Jake Bartholomew
• Romy Award — Presenter
• 1990The Sheltering Sky — Port
• 1988Dangerous Liaisons — Vicomte Sébastien de Valmont
• 1988Miles from Home — Barry Maxwell
• 1988The Accidental Tourist — Executive Producer
• 1987Empire of the Sun — Basie
• 1987Making Mr. Right — Jeff Peters / Ulysses
• 1987Santabear's High Flying Adventure — Santa Claus (voice)
• 1987The Glass Menagerie — Tom Wingfield
• 1986Rocket to the Moon — Ben Stark
• 1985Death of a Salesman — Biff Loman
• 1985Eleni — Nicholas 'Nick' Gage
• 1984Places in the Heart — Mr. Will
• 1984The Killing Fields — Al Rockoff
• 1984True West — Lee
• 1983Say Goodnight, Gracie — Steve
• American Playhouse — Lee, Ben Stark
• 1981American Dream
• 1981Word of Honor — Gary
• 1978A Wedding — Wedding Guest (uncredited)
• A Hero's Journey: The Making of Beowulf — Unferth
• A Winter's Journey — Leiermann
• Bishop — Lincoln Graves
• Lost and Found in Paris — Wim Waldemar

Appearances as themselves (37)

• 2026Being Related to John Malkovich — Self
• 2024Safe Sets: Dying to Work in the Film Industry — self
• 2023A Journey to Sundance — Self
• Matchday: Inside FC Barcelona — Self - Narrator (voice)
• Late Night with Seth Meyers — Self
• 2014Le paradoxe de John Malkovich — Himself
• 2014Noseland — Self
• 2012All Noncombatants Please Clear the Set — Self
• 2012Side by Side — Self
• 2011100 Jahre Hollywood - Die Carl Laemmle Story — Self
• The Jonathan Ross Show — Self
• 2010Saturday Night — Self
• 2009La Traversée du désir — Self
• 2008Finding the Burn — Self / Osborne Cox (archive footage)
• 2008Music at the Sea — Self
• 2008Welcome Back, George — Self
• The Graham Norton Show — Self
• On n'est pas couché — Self - Guest
• De Wereld Draait Door — Self
• 2005Don't Crash: The Documentary of the Making of the Movie of the Book of the Radio Series of 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' — Self
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson — Self
• Gero von Boehm begegnet... — Self
• Friday Night with Jonathan Ross — Self - Guest
• 1997Portrait: Jane Campion and The Portrait of a Lady — Self
• 1996Cannes Man — Self
• The Daily Show — Self
• 1995To Make a Film Is to Be Alive — Self (uncredited)
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien — Self - Guest
• Late Show with David Letterman — Self - Guest
• 1990Red Hot + Blue: A Tribute to Cole Porter — Self
• 1989Decade — Self
• 1987The China Odyssey: Empire of the Sun — Self
• American Masters — Self
• 1986Private Conversations: On the Set of ‘Death of a Salesman’ — Self / Biff
• Late Night with David Letterman — Self - Guest
• Wetten, dass..? — Self
• Saturday Night Live — Self - Host