Tony Torn

Anthony Torn (born 1965 ) is an American actor, director, and producer. He has made extensive appearances across film, television, and theatre. Torn has long been involved in the New York experimental theater community, having worked with avant-garde directors Richard Foreman and Reza Abdoh, and served as one of the founding directors of long-running New York City performance community Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. Torn has appeared in episodes of the television shows Law & Order (1997–2009), 30 Rock, The Good Wife (2010), Jason and Shirley (2015), The Blacklist (2018), Teenage Bounty Hunters (2020), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2021).

Career Torn has an extensive theatrical career, having performed at the Signature Theatre Off-Broadway, Classic Stage Company, American Repertory Theater, La MaMa, and the Cort Theater on Broadway.

Described as "a stalwart of the experimental theater" by Jesse Green, Torn has worked extensively with experimental playwrights, directors, and filmmakers Reza Abdoh and Richard Foreman, and has even been called a "crucial muse" to the latter. He appeared in Abdoh's Father Was A Peculiar Man (1990), The Law of Remains (1991), The Blind Owl (1992), Tight Right White (1993), and Quotations From a Ruined City (1994), as well as Foreman's The Universe (1996), Paradise Hotel (1999), and Now That Communism Is Dead My Life Feels Empty! (2004). Torn also collaborated with lead performer William Talen to develop the character of Reverend Billy for the Stop Shopping Choir.

In 2019, Torn played a fictionalized version of performance artist Paul Swan with avant-garde theatre company The Civilians.

In 2024, Torn directed the United States premiere of The Whole of Time, "a feminist reworking of The Glass Menagerie by Argentinian playwright Romina Paula" which was staged at The Brick Theater in 2025. The Whole of Time was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation, extended multiple times, and positively reviewed, with The New Yorker singling out Torn's "beautifu" direction.

Personal life He is the son of actors Rip Torn and Geraldine Page.

Filmography

Theater (partial) The Picture (2000, chashama) (The Large Gentleman) The Tempest (2008, Classic Stage Company) (Trinculo) Breakfast at Tiffany's (2013, Cort Theatre) (Rusty Trawler) Ubu Sings Ubu (2014, Abrons Art Center) (Pa Ubu) The Tempest (2014, La MaMa) (Stephano) Venus (2017, The Signature Theatre) (Cyclops/Mother) Paul Swan Is Dead and Gone (2019, Torn Page) (Paul Swan) King Lear (2024, La MaMa) (Lear/Oswald)