Ron Livingston

Ronald Joseph Livingston (born June 5, 1967) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Peter Gibbons in Office Space and Captain Lewis Nixon III in the miniseries Band of Brothers (2001). Livingston's other roles include the films Swingers (1996), Adaptation. (2002), The Conjuring (2013), James White (2015), Tully (2018); and the television series Loudermilk (2017–2020), and Boardwalk Empire (2013).

Early life and education Livingston was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Kurt Livingston, an aerospace electronics engineer, and Linda (née Rinas), a Lutheran pastor. He has two brothers and one sister. His younger brother, John, is also an actor. Both his sister, Jennifer Livingston, and brother-in-law, Mike Thompson, were TV news personalities at WKBT-DT in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Livingston attended Yale University, where he sang with The Whiffenpoofs and graduated in 1989, in the same class as Anderson Cooper. He graduated with a B.A. degree in Theatre Studies and English Literature.

Livingston first acted at Theatre Cedar Rapids after being introduced to the group during a school job shadowing. After graduating from Yale in 1989, he moved to Chicago, where he appeared in productions at the Goodman Theatre and befriended Jon Favreau, who was then performing improvisational comedy in the city.

Career In 1992, Livingston landed his first film role in Dolly Parton's Straight Talk. He later moved to Los Angeles, where he was cast in supporting roles in Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade and The Low Life. In 1996, he had his first major role in Swingers, written by and co-starring Favreau. Released in 1999, the film co-starred Jennifer Aniston, with Livingston playing the lead role of Peter Gibbons. In 2001, he appeared in HBO's miniseries Band of Brothers as Captain Lewis Nixon III opposite Donnie Wahlberg and Damian Lewis. Livingston widened his variety of roles when he played a Hollywood agent in Adaptation. (2002), a weaselly Ivy League upstart opposite Alec Baldwin's casino boss in The Cooler (2003) and teachers in Winter Solstice and Pretty Persuasion (both in 2005). He also appeared as sardonic writer Jack Berger, Carrie's short-term boyfriend in the fifth and sixth seasons of Sex and the City. He guest starred in the episode "TB or Not TB" of House. In 2006, he starred as FBI negotiator Matt Flannery in the Fox series Standoff, co-starring Rosemarie DeWitt, and he was an advertising spokesman for Sprint Nextel.

In summer 2007, Livingston appeared on the off-Broadway stage in the world premiere of Neil LaBute's In a Dark Dark House, produced by MCC Theater, with Frederick Weller and Louisa Krause. The show ran May–July at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City. In November 2007, the indie film Holly told the story of a Vietnamese girl trafficked into the sex trade in Cambodia. Livingston starred as Patrick, a shady card shark who becomes determined to save Holly from her ill-destined fate.

In 2009, Livingston portrayed flight engineer Maddux Donner in the series Defying Gravity, which was cancelled after its first season, and starred in the science fiction romantic drama The Time Traveler's Wife. In 2010, he co-starred in the Jay Roach comedy Dinner for Schmucks.

On February 26, 2013, Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Livingston would be joining the cast of HBO's Boardwalk Empire for the fourth season. Also in 2013, he starred in the hit horror film The Conjuring alongside Lili Taylor, and co-starred in the indie comedy Drinking Buddies alongside Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson and Anna Kendrick. Drinking Buddies received positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 82% based on 97 reviews.

In 2015, Livingston appeared in the indie drama James White, as well as the comedy films Vacation and Addicted to Fresno. From 2017 to 2020, Livingston starred in the Peter Farrelly–produced comedy television series Loudermilk on the Audience network. Livingston played the title role of Sam Loudermilk, a former music critic and recovering alcoholic who works as a substance abuse counsellor and support group leader, and who regularly doles out clever but acid-tongued critiques to his clients, his friends, and random people he encounters. The show premiered in October 2017 and was renewed in April 2018 for a second season that premiered in October 2018. In December 2018, Audience renewed the series for a third season. After Audience ceased operations, the third season premiered on Amazon Prime Video in 2020–21.

In 2018, Livingston starred in the comedy drama film Tully, and from 2018 to 2023, he appeared in the ABC drama A Million Little Things as Jon Dixon, whose suicide causes his group of friends to evaluate their own lives. In 2023, he portrayed Henry Allen in the superhero film The Flash.

Personal life Livingston and his Standoff co-star Rosemarie DeWitt began a relationship after meeting on the show. After dating for three years, they married on November 2, 2009, in San Francisco. He was previously engaged to actress Lisa Sheridan.

In May 2013, Livingston and DeWitt announced they had adopted an infant girl born the previous month. In December 2016, the couple announced they had adopted another child, a girl, who was born the previous year.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1992 Straight Talk Soldier 1994 Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade Himself Short film 1995 The Low Life Chad 1996 Swingers Rob 1997 Campfire Tales Rick / RV Driver Segments: "The Honeymoon" and "The Campfire" 1999 Dill Scallion Ron Statlin Office Space Peter The Big Brass Ring Sheldon Buckle Two Ninas Marty Sachs Body Shots Trent 2000 Beat Allen Ginsberg A Rumour of Angels Uncle Charlie 2002 Buying the Cow Tyler Carter Bellows Adaptation. Marty Bowen 2003 The Cooler Larry Sokolov King of the Ants Eric Gatley Uncredited 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out Donnie Anderson Television movie 2004 Little Black Book Derek 2005 Winter Solstice Mr. Bricker Pretty Persuasion Mr. Anderson 2006 Relative Strangers Richard Clayton Holly Patrick 2007 Music Within Richard Pimentel 2009 The Time Traveler's Wife Gomez2010 Dinner for Schmucks Caldwell Going the Distance Will Broderick 2011 10 Years Paul 2012 Queens of Country Rance McCoy The Odd Life of Timothy Green Franklin Crudstaff Game Change Mark Wallace Television movie 2013 Touchy Feely Adrian Drinking Buddies Chris The Pretty One Charles The Conjuring Roger PerronNominated – Fright Meter Award for Best Supporting Actor Parkland James Hosty 2014 Fort Bliss Richard 2015 James White Ben The End of the Tour Bob Levin Addicted to Fresno Edwin Vacation Ethan Digging for Fire Bob 2016 The 5th Wave Oliver Sullivan Shangri-La Suite Elvis 2017 Shimmer Lake Kyle Walker Lucky Bobby Lawrence 2018 Tully Drew / husband The Long Dumb Road Francois The Professor Henry The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot Flag Pin 2020 Holly Slept Over Peter 2021 The Tender Bar Future JR Voice The Same Storm Jim Lamson / Ben's Dad 2022 The Estate James 2023 The Flash Henry Allen Sitting in Bars with Cake Fred The Featherweight Bob Kaplan 2026 Killing Castro +Key Denotes works that have not yet been released

Television Year Title Role Notes 1995 JAG Corporal David Anderson Episode: "Scimitar" 1996 Townies Kurt Pettiglio Series Regular 1997 Timecop Eliot Ness Episode: "Public Enemy" Players Jordan Episode: "Con Law" 1998 That's Life Mitch 6 episodes 2000 Then Came You Max Episode: "Then Came Cousin Aidan" 2001 Band of Brothers Lewis Nixon Miniseries; 10 episodesNominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film 2001–2002 The Practice A.D.A. Alan Lowe 8 episodes 2002–2003 Sex and the City Jack Berger 8 episodes 2005–2007 American Dad! Bob Memari Voice, 3 episodes 2005 House Dr. Sebastian Charles Episode: "TB or Not TB" 2006 Family Guy Video Store Clerk Voice, episode: "Stewie B. Goode" Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King Howard Fornoy Episode: "The End of the Whole Mess" 2006–2007 Standoff Matt Flannery 18 episodes 2009 Defying Gravity Maddux Donner 1 season WWII in HD Charles Scheffel Voice, 5 episodes 2011 Issues The Nothing 2013 Boardwalk Empire Roy Phillips 6 episodesNominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series 2015 Adventure Time Morty Rogers Voice, episode: "Chips & Ice Cream" Saints & Strangers John Carver Miniseries, 2 episodes 2016–2021 Search Party Keith 12 episodes 2017 Dice Sydney Stein 2 episodes Kings of Con Lyle1 episode 2017–2020 Loudermilk Sam Loudermilk lead role, 3 seasons 2018–2023 A Million Little Things Jonathan Dixon recurring role 2018 The Romanoffs Alex Myers Episode: "Bright and High Circle" 2021 Creepshow Mac Kamen Voice, episode: "The Things in Oakwood's Past" 2022–2023 Pantheon Dr. Peter Waxman Voice, 16 episodes