Stephen Kunken

Stephen Michael Kunken is an American actor. He is known for the roles of Ari Spyros on Showtime's Billions and Commander Putnam on Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. Graduating with top honors from The Juilliard School, Kunken has an extensive theater career, appearing on Broadway in seven different productions and countless off-Broadway and regional productions. He is most readily known for playing Andy Fastow in the Broadway play Enron, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Featured Actor in a Play. Other Broadway credits include Frost/Nixon and Rock 'n' Roll.

Early life and education Stephen Michael Kunken was raised on Long Island in Upper Brookville, New York. His father is a dentist and his mother is a former grade school teacher. He is Jewish.

Kunken received a B.A. degree from Tufts University in 1993. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School's Graduate Acting program, where as a member of the Drama Division's Group 26 (1993–1997) he was awarded both The John Houseman Prize and the Pearl and Rolands Grant. His classmates included David Denman and Alan Tudyk.

Career Kunken has appeared on Broadway as David Halberstam in David Auburn's The Columnist (2012); opposite Kathleen Turner in High (2011); Tom Stoppard’s Rock 'n' Roll (2007); Frost/Nixon (2007) (for which he received Outer Critics Circle Award (Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play) and Drama League Award nominations),; Festen (2006); and Proof (replacement, 2002). For his role as CFO Andrew Fastow in Lucy Prebble's Enron, he received a 2010 Tony Award nomination for Featured Actor in a Play.

Off-Broadway, he played Tim Andrews in the award-winning Richard Nelson cycle of Apple Plays, which includes That Hopey Changey Thing, Sweet and Sad, and Regular Singing in 2013 at The Public.

He played the title role of Nikolai Nabakov in Lincoln Center Theater's production of Richard Nelson's Nikolai and the Others in 2013. He has appeared as Dr. Phil in the critically acclaimed production of Kate Fodor's romantic comedy RX (2012, Primary Stages production); and as the Stage Manager in the 2009 David Cromer-directed revival of Thornton Wilder's Our Town (replacement as of January 5, 2010, Barrow Street Theatre); Theresa Rebeck's Our House (2009, Playwrights Horizons); Fabulation at Playwrights Horizons (2004); A Very Common Procedure by Courtney Baron at Manhattan Class Company (2007) (for which he received a Drama League Award nomination); Journals of Mihail Sebastian by David Auburn with the Keen Company in 2004 and Misalliance at the Roundabout Theatre Company (1997).

He performed in The Story (2003), Henry VIII (1997) and A Dybbuk (1997) at the Public Theater.

Regionally, Kunken has appeared in Quartermaine’s Terms (2009), True West (2009), Three Sisters as Solyony (2008) all at the Williamstown Theatre Festival; and Mister Roberts as Doc at the Kennedy Center in 2005, among many other credits.

He played the lead role of lawyer Don Pearlman in Kyoto (2025) at the @sohoplace theatre.

His television credits include: Unforgettable, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, Gossip Girl, The Unusuals, New Amsterdam, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU, The Sopranos, Spin City, Far East (2001, TV movie), Mary and Rhoda (2000, TV movie) and The Affair.

In film, Kunken's work includes The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Still Alice (2014), Café Society (2016), A Birder's Guide to Everything (2013), The Bay (2012), Price Check (2012), Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011), All Good Things (2010), Taking Woodstock (2009), The Girl in the Park (2008), Wait 'til This Year, Light and the Sufferer (2014), and Bamboozled (2000). The couple have a daughter.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes2000 Bamboozled David 2007 The Girl in the Park Leo Light and the Sufferer Douglas 2009 Taking Woodstock Mel 2010 All Good Things Todd Fleck 2011 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Teacher 2012 Price Check Cartwright The Bay Dr. Abrams 2013 A Birder's Guide to Everything Ted Blumenthal Barry The Wolf of Wall Street Jerry Fogel 2014 Still Alice Dr. Benjamin 2015 Bridge of Spies William Tompkins 2016 Custody Mark Dooley Café Society Leonard Jason Bourne Baumen 2019 Otherhood Joel Lieberman 2020 Hillbilly Elegy Phillip Roseman