Tom Hulce

Thomas Edward Hulce (; born December 6, 1953) is an American actor and theater producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Academy Award-winning film Amadeus, as well as the roles of Larry "Pinto" Kroger in Animal House (1978), Larry Buckman in Parenthood (1989), and Quasimodo in Disney's animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Hulce's awards include an Emmy Award for The Heidi Chronicles, a 2007 Tony Award for Best Musical as a lead producer for Spring Awakening, an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for Amadeus, and four Golden Globe nominations.

Early life Hulce was born in Detroit, Michigan, and was raised in nearby Plymouth, the youngest of four children. His mother, Joanna Winkleman, sang briefly with Phil Spitalny's All-Girl Orchestra, and his father, Raymond Albert Hulce, worked for the Ford Motor Company. As a child, he wanted to be a singer, but switched to acting after his voice broke. As a teen, Hulce spent a year at the Interlochen Arts Academy before entering Beloit College. He then studied acting the North Carolina School of the Arts, but left without a degree in 1973.

Career Actor Hulce debuted as an actor in 1974, playing opposite Anthony Hopkins in Equus on Broadway and in Los Angeles. Throughout the rest of the 1970s and the early 1980s, he worked primarily as a theater actor, taking occasional parts in movies. His first film role was in the James Dean-influenced film September 30, 1955 in 1977. His next movie role was as freshman college student Larry "Pinto" Kroger in the classic comedy Animal House (1978). In 1983, he played a gunshot victim in the television show St. Elsewhere.

In the early 1980s, Hulce was chosen over intense competition (including David Bowie, Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Kenneth Branagh ) to play the role of Mozart in Amadeus, director Miloš Forman's adaptation of Peter Shaffer's play of the same name. In 1985, Hulce was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Amadeus, losing to his co-star, F. Murray Abraham. In his acceptance speech, Abraham paid tribute to Hulce, saying, "There's only one thing missing for me tonight, and that is to have Tom Hulce standing by my side."

In 1989, Hulce received his second Best Actor Golden Globe Award nomination for a critically acclaimed performance as an intellectually-challenged garbage-collector in the 1988 movie Dominick and Eugene. He played supporting roles in Parenthood (1989), Fearless (1993) and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994). In 1988, he played the title part in the British–Dutch movie Shadow Man, directed by the Polish director Piotr Andrejew.

In 1990, he was nominated for his first Emmy Award for his performance as the 1960s civil rights activist Michael Schwerner in the 1990 TV-movie Murder in Mississippi. He starred as Joseph Stalin's projectionist in Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky's 1991 film The Inner Circle. In 1996, he won an Emmy Award for his role as a pediatrician in a television-movie version of the Wendy Wasserstein play The Heidi Chronicles, starring Jamie Lee Curtis. Also that year, he was cast in Disney's animated film adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, providing the speaking and singing voice of the protagonist Quasimodo. Although Hulce largely retired from acting in the mid-1990s, he had bit parts in the movies Stranger Than Fiction (2006) and Jumper (2008).

Hulce remained active in theater throughout his entire acting career. In addition to Equus, he appeared in Broadway productions of A Memory of Two Mondays and A Few Good Men, for which he was a Tony Award nominee in 1990. In the mid-1980s, he appeared in two different productions of playwright Larry Kramer's early AIDS-era drama The Normal Heart. In 1992, he starred in a Shakespeare Theatre Company production of Hamlet. His regional theatre credits include Eastern Standard at the Seattle Repertory Theatre and Nothing Sacred at the Mark Taper Forum, both in 1988.

Hulce largely retired from acting beginning in the mid-1990s to focus on stage directing and producing. In 2023, Hulce made a brief return to acting by reprising the role of Quasimodo in the live-action/animated short Once Upon a Studio.

Producer Among Hulce's major projects are the six-hour, two-evening stage adaptation of John Irving's The Cider House Rules; and Talking Heads, a festival of Alan Bennett's one-man plays that won six Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award, a special Outer Critics Circle Award, and a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Foreign Play. He also headed 10 Million Miles, a musical project by Keith Bunin and Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Patty Griffin, that premiered in Spring 2007 at the Atlantic Theater Company.

Hulce was a lead producer of the Broadway hit Spring Awakening, which won eight Tony Awards in 2007, including one for Best Musical. He is also a lead producer of the stage adaptation of the Green Day album American Idiot. The musical had its world premiere in Berkeley, California, at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in 2009 and opened on Broadway in April 2010. In 2017 he began work as a producer on the musical Ain't Too Proud, which received 11 Tony Award nominations in 2019. He also produced the 2004 movie A Home at the End of the World, based upon Michael Cunningham's novel.

Personal life In 2008, Hulce identified as gay in an interview with Seattle Gay News, and dispelled the internet rumor that he had been married to a woman with whom he had fathered a daughter.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1977 September 30, 1955 Hanley 1978 Animal House Lawrence "Pinto" Kroger 1980 Those Lips, Those Eyes Artie Shoemaker 1984 Amadeus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1986 Echo Park Jonathan 1987 Slam Dance C.C. Drood 1988 Dominick and Eugene Dominick "Nicky" Luciano Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Shadow Man David Rubenstin / The Shadow Man 1989 Parenthood Lawrence "Larry" Buckman Black Rainbow Gary Wallace 1991 The Inner Circle Ivan Sanshin 1993 Fearless Steven Brillstein 1994 Mary Shelley's Frankenstein Henry Clerval 1995 Wings of Courage Antoine de Saint-Exupéry 1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame Quasimodo VoiceNominated — Annie Award for Best Achievement in Voice Acting 2002 The Hunchback of Notre Dame II VoiceDirect-to-DVD 2004 A Home at the End of the World Producer 2006 Stranger Than Fiction Dr. Cayly 2008 Jumper Mr. Bowker 2009 Kyle Riabko: The Lead Self Documentary 2018 The Seagull Producer 2022 Spring Awakening: Those You've Known Self ProducerDocumentary 2023 Once Upon a Studio Quasimodo VoiceShort film

Television Year Title Role Notes 1975 Great Performances Young Frank Episode: "Forget-Me-Not-Lane" 1976 The American Parade Brother Episode: "Song of Myself" The Adams Chronicles Student Episode: "Chapter X: John Quincy Adams, Congressman" 1983 St. Elsewhere John Doe No. 12 / David Stewart 3 episodes 1986 American Playhouse Daniel Rocket Episode: "" Tall Tales & Legends Quinn Episode: "John Henry" 1990 Murder in Mississippi Michael "Mickey" Schwerner Television film 1993 The Hidden Room Joe Episode: "Dreams About Water" 1995 Frasier Keith (voice) Episode: "She's the Boss" Peter Patrone Television film

Theater Year Title Role Notes 1974 Equus Alan Strang 1976 A Memory of Two Mondays / 27 Wagons Full of Cotton Bert 1981 Twelve Dreams Sanford Putnam 1989 A Few Good Men Lieutenant Junior Grade Daniel A. Kaffee Nominated — Tony Award for Best Actor in a PlayNominated — Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor, Non-Resident Play 1992 Hamlet Hamlet Nominated — Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor, Resident Play 1999 The Cider House Rules DirectorNominated — Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play 2003 Talking Heads ProducerNominated — Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play 2006 Spring Awakening ProducerTony Award for Best MusicalDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical 2010 American Idiot ProducerNominated — Tony Award for Best MusicalNominated — Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical 2011 On a Clear Day You Can See Forever Producer 2017 Significant Other Producer 2019 Ain't Too Proud ProducerNominated — Tony Award for Best Musical 2025 Chess Producer Sources: