JOHN TURTURRO (Actor, Director, Writer, Producer). In a career spanning more than 40 years, John Turturro has worked with a number of acclaimed filmmakers, appearing in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and Jungle Fever, Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money, Robert Redford’s Quiz Show, for which he received a Golden Globe and SAG nomination, Primo Levi’s The Truce, Francesco Rosi’s La Tregua, Robert De Niro’s The Good Shepherd, Tom DiCillo’s Box of Moonlight and Nanni Moretti’s Mia Madre. He also starred in the Adam Sandler comedies Mr. Deeds, Anger Management and You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, and appeared in three of Michael Bay’s blockbuster Transformer films, as the eccentric Agent Simmons. Turturro has been a frequent collaborator with Joel and Ethan Coen, starring in several of their films. For his lead role in the Coen brothers’ Barton Fink, Turturro won the Best Actor Award at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival and the David Donatello Award. He also appeared in their films O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Miller’s Crossing and The Big Lebowski, where he played the iconic character Jesus Quintana. In 2020, Turturro reprised Quintana in The Jesus Rolls, a film he wrote, directed and starred in. In 2022 Turturro appeared in Matt Reeves’ film The Batman as Carmine Falcone. He starred in Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, and Sean Ellis’ The Cut. He stars in The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, a crime thriller written and directed by Noah Segan, which had its World Premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and will be released by Sony Pictures Classics October 2026, as well as Tom McCarthy’s A Statement from Sony Pictures Classics, which will be released in 2027. Turturro is directing Joe Torre (working title), a feature documentary on the iconic National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, which is currently in production. Turturro received the Camera D’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival for Mac, his directorial debut. His other films as writer and director include Illuminata, Romance & Cigarettes, Passione, and Fading Gigolo. Turturro studied at SUNY New Paltz and the Yale School of Drama. On television, Turturro won an Emmy Award for his guest appearance on “Monk,” and was nominated for an Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award for his role as criminal attorney John Stone in HBO’s “The Night Of.” He was also nominated for a SAG Award for his portrayal of Howard Cosell in “Monday Night Mayhem,” and nominated again for “The Bronx Is Burning,” in which he played notorious Yankees skipper Billy Martin. He starred as Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf in the six-part HBO series “The Plot Against America,” based on the acclaimed novel by Philip Roth. He also starred in the Amazon Prime Video series “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” as Eric Shane, for which he was nominated for an Emmy Award. Turturro starred as Irving Bailiff in the Apple TV+ series “Severance,” for which he was nominated for an Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award. For his stage debut he played the title role in John Patrick Shanley’s “Danny and the Deep Blue Sea,” for which he won an OBIE Award and a Theater World Award. In 2023 he starred as Mickey Sabbath in his and Ariel Levy’s stage adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel “Sabbath’s Theater.” He recently starred as “Bérenger” in a new adaptation by A.R.T of Eugène Ionesco’s play “Rhinoceros” with Paul Giamatti & Tatiana Maslany. Other theater credits include “La Puta Vida” at the Public Theater, “The Resistible Rise of Artur Ui,” “Waiting for Godot,” “Endgame,” and “The Master Builder,” among others.
