Philip Ettinger

Philip Ettinger (born September 8, 1985) is an American actor. He first gained attention for his supporting role as the troubled environmental activist, Michael, in Paul Schrader's First Reformed. Other significant roles have been as Garrett Drimmer in the CBS All Access series One Dollar (2018), as the young-adult version of Mark Ruffalo's twin characters, Dominick and Thomas Birdsey, in HBO's I Know This Much Is True in 2020, and in the lead role of Cole Freeman in Braden King's cinematic adaptation of the Carter Sickels' novel The Evening Hour (2020).

Early life Philip Ettinger was born September 8, 1985 to a Jewish family in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

Career Ettinger's professional career began in 2008 in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

In 2014, Ettinger was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, for his work in Joshua Harmon's Bad Jews. (The awards are to recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway Theatre). Ettinger continued to make strides in 2018, starring as Garrett Drimmer, a young steel mill worker raising a toddler on his own, in the CBS All Access ensemble series One Dollar, and appearing in the Sebastián Silva-directed film Tyrel, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson examined Ettinger and star Ruffalo's collaboration on the twins with favor, "The relationship between Dom and Thomas is drawn with aching clarity, one brother trying to be good to the other while resentments build up around them. Crucially, neither Ruffalo nor Ettinger overplay Thomas's condition. Though he is volatile, and frustrating, and wounded, there is nothing childlike about him, really—at least not in the style of so many misbegotten depictions of mental illness on screen... In the other role, Ruffalo and Ettinger both keenly express Dom's agony over his assumed responsibilities and all they deny him in his own life. It's particularly heartbreaking to watch Ettinger's youthful appetite for escape dissipate as he realizes just how serious his brother's situation is, how much time and attention and patience it will require. I Know This Much Is True is wise enough to both regret and accept that onus, gradually allowing Dom to find the ragged purpose in a life he feels has been robbed of that very thing. Ruffalo communicates that hopeful resignation quite well, building on Ettinger's more wide-eyed performance to craft a man in full." Haaretzs Adrian Hennigan pointed out Ettinger's success in portraying both twins, "The actors (including Donnie and Rocco Masihi) playing the younger versions of the twins are also outstanding: Philip Ettinger subtly delineates how these identical twins are very different characters..."

Earlier that year Ettinger attended both the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands to promote his first lead role as Cole Freeman in Braden King's cinematic adaptation of the Carter Sickels novel The Evening Hour. In it, Ettinger depicts a young nursing home aide struggling to support himself, and his grandparents, in economically depressed Appalachia, by buying excess pain meds from members of his West Virginian community, and reselling them to others in that same area. The film was released in 2021. Other projects include Ian Barling's 2021 short film Safe, which premiered at La Semaine de la Critique at Cannes in July 2021, Hold Up in 2022 by writer-director Alex Rollins Berg, and Little Brother, an indie film written and directed by Sheridan O'Donnell. Ettinger also stars alongside Emmy-winner Martha Plimpton in Sardinia, a 2024 short film written and directed by Paul Kowalski and Executive Produced by Patton Oswalt. The film is about a serious man trying to avoid catching a deadly laughing plague in a growingly polarized and dystopian society, and was named a 2025 Oscar contender for Best Live Action Short by Deadline.

Filmography Film

Television

Year Title RoleNotes 2008 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Alec Bernardi Episode: "Babes" 2009 The Closer Jake Burrell Episode: "Maternal Instincts" 2010 Mercy Nathan Episode: "We're All Adults" 2011 Blue Bloods John John Episode: "Innocence" 2012 Girls Zach Episode: "The Return" 2013 The Good Wife Michael Episode: "A Precious Commodity" 2014 Manhattan Watts Episode: "Last Reasoning of Kings" 2016 Elementary Toby Dannon Episode: "Down Where the Dead Delight"2017 The Mist Nash 2 episodes Chicago Med Eric Adams Episode: "Trust Your Gut" 2018 One Dollar Garrett Drimmer 10 episodes 2020 I Know This Much Is True Young Dominick and Thomas Birdsey 2 episodes 2021 Cinema Toast Man (voice) Episode: "Warehouse Friends"2022 Angelyne Cory Hunt 3 episodes A Friend of the Family Joe Berchtold Miniseries 2023 Bupkis Evan 7 episodes 2025 Happy Face Shane Jesperson 2 episodes 2026 The Terror: Devil in Silver 'Louie' 2 episodes TBA Main role

Theatre

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref. 2015 Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Featured Actor in a PlayBad Jews 2023Soho International Film FestivalBest Acting Performance in a Leading Role – US FeatureLittle BrotherWinner