Nathan Lane on screen and stage

Nathan Lane is an American actor and writer known for his performances in film, television and theatre.

Lane at the 1998 Primetime Emmy Awards

He is most known for his theatre roles on and off Broadway including his Tony Award winning performances as Pseudolus in the 1996 revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1996), as Max Bialystock in the original production of The Producers (2001), and as Roy Cohn in the revival of Tony Kushner's Angels in America. Lane's Broadway theatre performances also include Present Laughter (1982), Merlin (1984), Wind in the Willows (1985), Guys and Dolls (1992), Some Americans Abroad (1990), Laughter on the 23rd Floor (1994), Love! Valour! Compassion! (1995), The Man Who Came to Dinner (2000), The Frogs (2004), The Odd Couple (2005), Butley (2006), Waiting For Godot (2009), The Addams Family (2010), The Nance (2013), It's Only a Play and The Iceman Cometh (2014), The Front Page (2016), Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (2019), and Pictures From Home (2023).

Lane is known for his leading performances in the comedy films The Birdcage, (1996), Mouse Hunt (1997), and The Producers (2005). He has also voiced Timon in the Disney animated film The Lion King (1994) and its sequels and Snowbell the cat in Stuart Little (1999). He is also known for his supporting performances in films such as Ironweed (1987), Frankie and Johnny (1991), Jeffrey (1995), Nicholas Nickleby (2002), Swing Vote (2008), Mirror Mirror (2012), The English Teacher (2013), Carrie Pilby (2016), Beau Is Afraid (2023), and Dicks: The Musical (2023).

Lane also is well known for his guest starring appearances in various television shows including Miami Vice, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, Frasier, Mad About You, Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, Absolutely Fabulous, Modern Family, The Good Wife, and The Blacklist. Lane also appeared as F. Lee Bailey in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016) and as Detective Lewis Michener in the Showtime series Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (2020). He has recurring roles on Only Murders in the Building for Hulu starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, for which he received his first Primetime Emmy and the new HBO series The Gilded Age written by Julian Fellowes.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Ironweed	Harold Allen
1990	The Lemon Sisters	Charlie Sorrell
	Joe Versus the Volcano	Baw, Waponi Advance Man
1991	He Said, She Said	Wally Thurman
	Frankie and Johnny	Tim
1993	Life with Mikey	Ed Chapman
	Addams Family Values	Desk Sergeant
1994	The Lion King	Timon	Voice[1]
1995	Jeffrey	Father Dan
1996	The Birdcage	Albert Goldman
1997	Mouse Hunt	Ernest "Ernie" Smuntz
1998	The Lion King II: Simba's Pride	Timon	Voice, direct-to-video[1]
1999	Stuart Little	Snowbell Little	Voice[1]
	At First Sight	Phil
	Get Bruce!	Himself	Documentary
2000	Isn't She Great	Irving Mansfield
	Love's Labour's Lost	Costard
	Titan A.E.	Preed	Voice[1]
	Trixie	Kirk Stans
2002	Stuart Little 2	Snowbell Little	Voice[1]
	Austin Powers in Goldmember	Mysterious Disco Man	Cameo
	Nicholas Nickleby	Vincent Crummles
2004	Teacher's Pet	Spot/Scott	Voice[1]
	Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!	Richard Levy the Driven
	The Lion King 1½	Timon	Voice, direct-to-video[1]
2005	The Producers	Max Bialystock
2007	Trumbo	Himself	Documentary
2008	Swing Vote	Art Crumb
2009	Astro Boy	Hammegg	Voice[1]
2010	The Nutcracker	Uncle Albert
2012	Mirror Mirror	Brighton
2013	The English Teacher	Mr. Kapinas
2016	Carrie Pilby	Dr. Petrov
	No Pay, Nudity	Herschel Thalkin	[2]
2017	The Vanishing of Sidney Hall	Harold	[3]
	National Theatre Live: Angels in America	Roy Cohn	Theatrical release
2023	Beau Is Afraid	Roger Stanwyck	[4]
	Dicks: The Musical	Harris	[5]
	Once Upon a Studio	Timon	Voice, short film[1]
2024	Spellbound	Luno, the Oracle of the Moon	Voice[6]

Source: Turner Classic Movies^[7]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls	Stage Manager	Television film
1982	One of the Boys	Jonathan Burns	13 episodes
1983	Great Performances	Mouse	Episode: "Alice in Wonderland"
1985	Miami Vice	Morty Price	Episode: "Buddies"
1989–91	The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd	Bing Shalimar	3 episodes
1995	Frasier	Phil	Episode: "Fool Me Once, Shame on You, Fool Me Twice..."
	Timon & Pumbaa	Timon	Voice; 10 episodes
1996	The Boys Next Door	Norman Bulansky	Television film
1997	Saturday Night Live	Himself (host)	Episode: "Nathan Lane/Metallica"
	Merry Christmas, George Bailey	Clarence	Television film
1998	Mad About You	Nathan Twilley	Episode: "Good Old Reliable Nathan"
1998–99	Encore! Encore!	Joseph Pinoni	13 episodes
1999–2000	George and Martha	George	Voice; 26 episodes[1]
2000	The Man Who Came to Dinner	Sheridan Whiteside	PBS live television broadcast
2000–02	Teacher's Pet	Spot Helperman Scott Leadready II	Voice; 34 episodes[1]
2001	Laughter on the 23rd Floor	Max Prince	Television film
2002	Sex and the City	Bobby Fine	Episode: "I Love a Charade"
2003	Charlie Lawrence	Charlie Lawrence	7 episodes
2004	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Nathan Lane	Episode: "Opening Night"
	Absolutely Fabulous	Kunz	Episode: "White Box"
2007	30 Rock	Eddie Donaghy	Episode: "The Fighting Irish"
2008	A Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa	Officer Frank Meany	Television film
2010–19	Modern Family	Pepper Saltzman	10 episodes
2012–14	The Good Wife	Clarke Hayden	15 episodes
2014	The Money	Gordon McCarren	Pilot
	Don Rickles: One Night Only	Himself (guest)	Spike television special
2016	The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story	F. Lee Bailey	8 episodes
	Difficult People	Himself	Episode: "Kessler Epstein Foundation"
	Maya & Marty	Connor Grayfield	Episode: "Steve Martin & Tina Fey"
2018	The Blacklist	Abraham Stern	Episode: "Abraham Stern (No. 100)"
2020	Penny Dreadful: City of Angels	Lewis Michener	Main role, 10 episodes[8]
2021–22	Only Murders in the Building	Teddy Dimas	Recurring role[9]
2022–23	The Gilded Age	Ward McAllister	Recurring role[9]
2024	Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story	Dominick Dunne	Main role, 5 episodes
	Elsbeth	Philip Cross	Episode: "Subscription to Murder"
2025	Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Special	Broadway producer / Himself	Television special
	Mid-Century Modern	Bunny Schneiderman	Main role

Source: Turner Classic Movies^[7]

Theatre

Year	Production	Role	Venue	Ref.
1978	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Francis Flute	Equity Library Theatre, Off-Broadway	[10]
1982	Present Laughter	Roland Maule	Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway	[11]
1983–1984	Merlin	Prince Fergus	Mark Hellinger Theatre, Broadway	[12]
1984	Love	Harry Berlin	Audrey Wood Theater, Off-Broadway	[13]
	She Stoops to Conquer	Tony Lumpkin	Triplex Theatre, Off-Broadway	[14]
1985	Measure for Measure	Pompey	Delacorte Theatre, Off-Broadway	[15]
	Wind in the Willows	Toad	Nederlander Theatre, Broadway	[16]
1986	The Common Pursuit	Nick Finchling	Promenade Theatre, Off Broadway	[17]
1987	Claptrap	Harvey Wheatcraft	New York City Center, Off-Broadway	[18]
	Broadway Bound	Stanley	National tour	[19]
1988	The Film Society	Jonathan Balton	McGinn-Cazale Theatre, Off-Broadway	[20]
1989	In a Pig's Valise	James Taxi	McGinn-Cazale Theatre, Off-Broadway	[21]
1989–1990	The Lisbon Traviata	Mendy	Promenade Theatre and New York City Center, Off-Broadway	[22]
1989	Assassins	Samuel Byck	New York Reading	[23]
1990	Bad Habits	Jason Pepper, M.D. Hugh Gumbs	New York City Center, Off–Broadway	[24]
	Some Americans Abroad	Henry McNeil	Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Broadway	[25]
1991	Lips Together, Teeth Apart	Sam Truman	New York City Center, Off-Broadway	[26]
	On Borrowed Time	Mr. Brink	Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway	[27]
1992–1993	Guys and Dolls	Nathan Detroit	Martin Beck Theatre, Broadway	[28]
1993–1994	Laughter on the 23rd Floor	Max Prince	Richard Rogers Theatre, Broadway	[29]
1994	Love! Valour! Compassion!	Buzz Hauser	New York City Center, Off-Broadway	[30]
			Walter Kerr Theatre, Broadway	[31]
1995	The Wizard of Oz	The Cowardly Lion	Lincoln Center, New York	[32]
1996–1997	A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum	Pseudolus	St. James Theatre, Broadway	[33]
1998	Mizlansky/Zilinsky or "Schmucks"	Davis Mizlansky	New York City Center, Off-Broadway	[34]
1999	The Odd Couple	Oscar Madison	Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles	[35]
	Do Re Mi	Hubert Cram	New York City Center, Off-Broadway	[36]
	Wise Guys	Addison Mizner	New York Workshop	[37]
2000	The Producers	Max Bialystock		[38]
	The Frogs	Dionysus	Library of Congress, Washington DC	[39]
	The Man Who Came to Dinner	Sheridan Whiteside	American Airlines Theatre, Broadway	[40]
2001	The Producers	Max Bialystock	Cadillac Palace Theatre, Chicago	[41]
2001–2002			St. James Theatre, Broadway	[42]
2003	The Play What I Wrote	Mystery Guest Star	Lyceum Theatre, Broadway	[43]
	Trumbo: Red White and Blacklisted	Dalton Trumbo	Westside Theatre, Off-Broadway	[44]
	Butley	Ben Butley	Huntington Theatre Company, Boston	[45]
2003–2004	The Producers	Max Bialystock	St. James Theatre, Broadway	[46]
2004	The Frogs	Dionysus	Vivian Beaumont Theatre, Broadway	[47]
2004–2005	The Producers	Max Bialystock	Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, West End	[48]
2005	Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams	Lou Nuncle	59E59 Theaters/Theater A, Off-Broadway	[49]
	Catch Me If You Can	Hanratty	New York Reading	[50]
2005–2006	The Odd Couple	Oscar Madison	Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway	[51]
2006–2007	Butley	Ben Butley	Booth Theatre, Broadway	[52]
2007	Catch Me If You Can	Hanratty	New York Reading	[50]
2007–2008	November	Charles Smith	Ethel Barrymore Theatre, Broadway	[53]
2009	Waiting for Godot	Estragon	Studio 54, Broadway	[54]
2009–2010	The Addams Family	Gomez Addams	Oriental Theatre, Chicago	[55]
2010–2011			Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Broadway	[56]
2012	The Iceman Cometh	Theodore "Hickey" Hickman	Chicago / Goodman Theater	[57]
2013	The Nance	Chauncey Miles	Lyceum Theatre, Broadway	[58]
2014	Guys and Dolls	Nathan Detroit	Carnegie Hall, New York	[59]
2014–2015	It's Only a Play	Jimmy Wicker	Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, Broadway	[60]
2015	The Iceman Cometh	Theodore "Hickey" Hickman	Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York	[61]
2016	White Rabbit, Red Rabbit	Himself	Westside Theatre, Off-Broadway	[62]
2016–2017	The Front Page	Walter Burns	Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway	[63]
2017	Angels in America	Roy Cohn	Lyttelton Theatre, London	[64]
2018			Neil Simon Theatre, Broadway	[65]
2019	Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus	Gary	Booth Theatre, Broadway	[66]
2023	Pictures from Home	Irving	Studio 54, Broadway	[67]
	Gutenberg! The Musical!	Guest Cameo Producer	James Earl Jones Theatre, Broadway	[68]
	The Frogs	Host / Narrator	Lincoln Center, New York	[69]

Video games

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1995	Animated Storybook: The Lion King	Timon	Voice

Other

• Presented Mike Birbiglia's (2008) Off-Broadway show Sleepwalk With Me.
• Provided the voice of Tom Morrow, the Audio-Animatronic host of Disneyland's Innoventions attraction.
• Children's book Naughty Mabel, written with husband Devlin Elliott, published by Simon and Schuster, released in October 2015. A second book, Naughty Mabel Sees It All was released in October 2016.
• Wrote the introduction to Neil Simon's Memoirs, published by Simon and Schuster.