John Benjamin Hickey (born June 25, 1963) is an American actor with a career in stage, film and television. He won the 2011
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
The Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality supporting roles in a Broadway play. Honors i ...
for his performance as Felix Turner in ''
The Normal Heart
''The Normal Heart'' is a largely autobiographical play by Larry Kramer.
It focuses on the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay founder of a pro ...
''.
Early life
Hickey was born in
Plano, Texas
Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
History
European settlers came to the area near ...
, and graduated from
Plano Sr. High School in 1981. He attended
Texas State University - San Marcos from 1981–1983, where he was active in the theater department. He earned his
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
at
Fordham University in 1985.
Career
On
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
, he originated the role of Arthur in
Terrence McNally
Terrence McNally (November 3, 1938 – March 24, 2020) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter.
Described as "the bard of American theater" and "one of the greatest contemporary playwrights the theater world has yet produced," ...
's play ''
Love! Valour! Compassion!
''Love! Valour! Compassion!'' is a play by Terrence McNally. The play opened Off-Broadway in 1994 and transferred to Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in pr ...
'' in 1995, a role he recreated for the
1997 film version.
He played supporting roles in a number of films including ''
The Ice Storm'' (1997)
["John Benjamin Hickey: Filmography"]
''TCM''. Accessed October 20, 2016. and ''
The Anniversary Party
''The Anniversary Party'' is a 2001 American comedy-drama film co-written, co-directed, co-produced by, and co-starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming, both making their respective feature directorial debuts. It is Phoebe Cates's final film ...
'' (2001). He has also appeared in ''
Flightplan
''Flightplan'' is a 2005 mystery psychological thriller film directed by Robert Schwentke from a screenplay written by Peter A. Dowling and Billy Ray. It stars Jodie Foster as Kyle Pratt, a recently-widowed American aircraft engineer living ...
'', ''
Flags of Our Fathers
''Flags of Our Fathers'' (2000) is a book by James Bradley with Ron Powers about his father, Navy corpsman John Bradley, and five United States Marines, who were made famous by Joe Rosenthal’s '' Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima'' photograph. Th ...
'', ''
Freedom Writers
''Freedom Writers'' is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey and Mario.
It is based on the 1999 book '' The Freedom Writers Diary'' by te ...
'', ''
Then She Found Me
''Then She Found Me'' is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Helen Hunt. The screenplay by Hunt, Alice Arlen, and Victor Levin is very loosely based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Elinor Lipman. The film marked Hunt's feature film ...
'', ''
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'', ''
The Bet''
[ and '' Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows''.
He played Clifford Bradshaw in the 1998 Broadway revival of '']Cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...
'', which won the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.[ In that same year, he played the lead in the independent film '' Finding North''.
On Broadway, he played Reverend John Hale in the 2002 revival of ]Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...
's ''The Crucible
''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as ...
''.[
Hickey played American novelist and playwright Jack Dunphy in the 2006 ]Truman Capote
Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...
biopic ''Infamous
Infamous may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film and television
* ''Infamous'' (2006 film), an American drama film
* ''Infamous'' (2020 film), an American crime thriller film
* "Infamous", an episode of ''Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinj ...
''. Hickey played Philip Stoddard on the short-lived gay-themed sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...
''It's All Relative
''It's All Relative'' is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from October 1, 2003, until April 20, 2004. The series is about two families in Boston – one lower-class Irish Catholic and the other an upper-class WASP household headed by a gay ...
''. Since ''It's All Relative'', Hickey has appeared on ''Alias
Alias may refer to:
* Pseudonym
* Pen name
* Nickname
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Alias'' (2013 film), a 2013 Canadian documentary film
* ''Alias'' (TV series), an American action thriller series 2001–2006
* ''Alias the ...
'', '' Law & Order'', '' Brothers & Sisters'', '' Stacked'', ''Heartland
Heartland or Heartlands may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Heartland Bank, a New Zealand-based financial institution
* Heartland Inn, a chain of hotels based in Iowa, United States
* Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty organization i ...
'', ''In Plain Sight
''In Plain Sight'' is an American drama television series that premiered on the USA Network on June 1, 2008. The series revolves around Mary Shannon ( Mary McCormack), a Deputy United States Marshal attached to the Albuquerque, New Mexico, offic ...
'', '' Law & Order: Los Angeles'', and ''Modern Family
''Modern Family'' is an American family sitcom television series created by Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan for the American Broadcasting Company. It ran for 11 seasons, from September 23, 2009, to April 8, 2020. It follows the lives of th ...
''.
He appeared in the 2011 Broadway revival of ''The Normal Heart
''The Normal Heart'' is a largely autobiographical play by Larry Kramer.
It focuses on the rise of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in New York City between 1981 and 1984, as seen through the eyes of writer/activist Ned Weeks, the gay founder of a pro ...
'', for which he won the Tony Award, Featured Actor in a Play.["John Benjamin Hickey Broadway"]
''Playbill''. Accessed October 18, 2016. He was in the Broadway revival of '' Mary Stuart'' in 2009, as the Earl of Leicester.
From 2010 to 2013, he appeared on '' The Big C'' and was nominated for a for the final season of the series, subtitled ''Hereafter''. Hickey starred as scientist Frank Winter on the TV series ''Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
'', which concluded on December 15, 2015 after two seasons and 23 episodes.
In 2015, he appeared Off-Broadway at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre in the play ''Dada Woof Papa Hot'' by Peter Parnell.[Isherwood, Charles (November 9, 2015)]
"Review: ‘Dada Woof Papa Hot,’ About Gay Men and Parenthood"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''.
In 2018 he appeared in the world premiere of Matthew Lopez's new play '' The Inheritance'', inspired by E.M. Forster's novel ''Howards End
''Howards End'' is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. ''Howards End'' is considered by many to be Forster's masterpiece. The book was ...
'', creating the role Henry Wilcox at London's Young Vic and then transferring to the West End.
On September 30, 2021, Hickey was cast as Father Callahan
Father Donald Frank Callahan is a fictional Character (arts), character created by Stephen King. He originally appeared in the 1975 novel Salem's Lot'' and later ''The Dark Tower (series), The Dark Tower'', appearing in ''The Dark Tower V: Wolve ...
in the adaptation of Stephen King's ''Salem's Lot
''Salem's Lot'' is a 1975 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It was his second published novel. The story involves a writer named Ben Mears who returns to the town of Jerusalem's Lot (or 'Salem's Lot for short) in Maine, where he ...
'' for Warner Bros. Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...
and New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema is an American film production studio owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is a film label of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye as an independent film distribution company; later becoming a film studio after ...
.
Personal life
Hickey is gay. Since 2003 his partner has been screenwriter and television producer Jeffrey Richman
Jeffrey Richman is an American writer, producer and actor.
Producer
* ''Uncoupled'' (2022): executive producer
* ''Modern Family'': co-executive producer
* ''Stacked''
* ''Frasier'': executive producer
* ''Charlie Lawrence'' (2003): executive pr ...
.
Filmography
Film
Source: TCM; ''AllMovie''
Television
Theatre
Source: IBDB, IOBDB"John Benjamin Hickey"
lortel.org, accessed February 15, 2018
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hickey, John Benjamin
1963 births
Male actors from Texas
American male film actors
American male stage actors
American male television actors
American gay actors
Juilliard School alumni
Living people
People from Plano, Texas
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
Fordham University alumni
Texas State University alumni
Tony Award winners
LGBT people from Texas
Audiobook narrators