Oliver Platt Biography

OLIVER PLATT

Date of Birth: January 12, 1960

Oliver Platt's passports have had a lot of stamps put in them. As the middle son of a career diplomat, he was born in Windsor, Ontario, but traveled the world, spending parts of his childhood in Washington DC, Asia, and the Middle East. After his 1983 graduation with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Drama from Tufts University, he moved on to more acting lessons at Shakespeare & Co.

After college, he acted with various regional troupes, as well as New York's Manhattan Punch Line and the comedic Gramm-Rudman Players, which he co-founded. He performed in such productions as The Tempest, Moon Over Miami, Sparks in the Park and Urban Blight, before starring in the Lincoln Center production of Ubu and Elliot Loves.

Platt received his big break when he landed the role of G-man Ed Benitez in Married to the Mob, followed closely by a strong performance as Melanie Griffith's sexist boss in Working Girl (both 1988). With his name on the map, he started being cast in juicer roles. In 1990 he hit his first co-starring role in the hit film Flatliners. For the rest of the '90s he put his work load into hyper-drive, landing roles in and out of major pictures including strong performances in films like The Three Musketeers (1993), A Time to Kill (1996), Doctor Dolittle (1998) and Three to Tango (1999). He continues to work steadily with roles in both major and independent features such as Hope Springs (2003), Kinsey (2004), The Martian Child (2006), Year One (2009), Love & Other Drugs (2010) and X-Men: First Class (2010).

Platt has also worked in television, with appearances on shows like The Equalizer, Miami Vice, a recurring role on the popular The West Wing playing Oliver Babish and as a New York journalist in the series Deadline. He also played Russell Tupper on the Showtime Networks series Huff from 2004 to 2006, then the recurring role of Freddy Prune on the hit series Nip/Tuck from 2007 to 2008.

More recently, Platt lent his voice to the animated film Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return (2014), starred in Chef (2014), Cut Bank (2015), Ticket (2016), The 9th Life of Louis Drax (2016), Shut In (2016), Rules Don't Apply (2016), and Emperor (2016).

Married since 1993, Platt is the proud father of three.

Filmography:

Emperor (2016)
Rules Don't Apply (2016)
Shut In (2016)
The 9th Life of Louis Drax (2016)
The Ticket (2016)
The Master Cleanse (2016)
Cut Bank (2015)
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2015)
Chef (2014)
Lucky Them (2014)
Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return (2014)
God Behaving Badly (2013)
Chinese Zodiac (2012)
Ginger & Rosa (2012)
The Oranges (2011)
X-Men: First Class (2011)
Love and Other Drugs (2010)
Letters to Juliet (2010) (uncredited)
Please Give (2010)
Year One (2009)
Frost/Nixon (2008)
Martian Child (2007)
The Ten (2007)
Casanova (2005)
The Ice Harvest (2005)
Loverboy (2005)
Kinsy (2004)
Hope Springs (2003)
Pieces of April (2003)
Ash Wednesday (2002)
Zig Zag (2002)
Liberty Stands Still (2002)
Don’t Say a Word (2001)
Ready to Rumble (2000)
Guy Shy (2000)
Bicentennial Man (1999)
Three to Tango (1999)
Lake Placid (1999)
Simon Birch (1998)
Doctor Dolittle (1998)
The Imposters (1998)
Bulworth (1998)
Dangerous Beauty (1998)
A Time to Kill (1996)
Executive Decision (1996)
Funny Bones (1995)
Tall Tale (1995)
The Three Musketeers (1993)
Benny & Joon (1993)
Indecent Proposal (1993)
The Temp (1993)
Diggstown (1992)
Beethoven (1992)
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
Flatliners (1990)
Working Girl (1988)
Married to the Mob (1988)
Crusoe (1988)