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Tracy S. Letts (born July 4, 1965) is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He started his career at the Steppenwolf Theatre before making his Broadway debut as a playwright for (2007), for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. As an actor, he won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the Broadway revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2013).
As a playwright, Letts is known for having written for the Steppenwolf Theatre, Off-Broadway and Broadway theatre. His works include Killer Joe, Bug, Man from Nebraska, , Superior Donuts, Linda Vista, and The Minutes. Letts adapted three of his plays into films, Bug and Killer Joe, both directed by William Friedkin, and , directed by John Wells. His 2009 play Superior Donuts was adapted into a television series of the same name. As a stage actor, Letts has performed in various classic plays with the Steppenwolf Theatre since 1988. He made his acting Broadway debut as George in the revival of Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He continued acting on the Broadway stage in The Realistic Joneses, All My Sons, and The Minutes.
On television, he is known for his portrayal of Andrew Lockhart in seasons 3 and 4 of Showtime's Homeland from 2013 to 2014, and pyramid-scheme con-artist Nick on the HBO comedy series Divorce from 2016 to 2019. He played Jack McKinney in the HBO sports drama series (2022–2023) for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. On film he has portrayed Henry Ford II in James Mangold's sports drama Ford v Ferrari (2019) and Herb Sargent in Jason Reitman's biographical comedy-drama Saturday Night (2024). He has also taken leading roles in The Lovers (2017) as well as supporting roles in The Big Short (2015), Indignation (2016), Imperium (2016), Lady Bird (2017), The Post (2017), Little Women (2019), and A House of Dynamite (2025).
Letts has written a number of plays. His most famous, , premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on June 28, 2007. It had its Broadway debut at the Imperial Theatre on December 4, 2007; the production transferred to Broadway theatre's Music Box Theatre on April 29, 2008. The Broadway show closed on June 28, 2009, after 648 performances and 18 previews. The show went on to receive seven Tony Award nominations, winning six, including Best Play. The play won Letts the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2008. Letts has also been a finalist for the Pulitzer drama prize for his plays Man from Nebraska and The Minutes; the Pulitzer committee described The Minutes as a "shocking drama set in a seemingly mundane city council meeting that acidly articulates a uniquely American toxicity that feels both historic and contemporary." "Finalists Tracy Letts" pulitzer.org, retrieved April 16, 2018
Letts's plays have depicted people struggling with moral and spiritual questions. He says he was inspired by the plays of Tennessee Williams and the novels of William Faulkner and Jim Thompson. He has said that he considers sounds to be effective "storytelling tools" for theater.
During the late 1980s through the late 2000s, Letts acted in many of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company's productions, starring in Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin Agile (1994). In 2012, he gained attention for his Broadway debut performance in the revival of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Booth Theatre. He received positive reviews and won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. In 2019, he appeared in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons with Annette Bening at Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre. The show officially opened on April 22, 2019, and closed on June 23, 2019. Letts starred in the 2022 Broadway production of The Minutes, his first time acting in one of his own plays.
In 2016, Letts joined HBO's marital comedy–drama Divorce. In 2018, Letts was cast in the second season of USA Network's anthology crime drama series The Sinner, opposite Bill Pullman and Carrie Coon. He played Jack McKinney in HBO's 2022 series .
In 2019, Letts portrayed Henry Ford II in James Mangold's sports drama film Ford v Ferrari, and played Mr. Dashwood in Little Women, a film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.
Letts has written screenplays for three based on his plays: Bug (directed by William Friedkin), Killer Joe (also directed by Friedkin); and (directed by John Wells). He also wrote the screenplay for the 2021 Netflix feature film The Woman in the Window, starring Amy Adams, based on the eponymous psychological thriller by A. J. Finn.
/ref> until her unexpected death in 1998. He has been sober since 1993.
| 1993 | Killer Joe | ||
| 1996 | Bug | ||
| 2003 | Man from Nebraska | ||
| 2007 | |||
| 2008 | Superior Donuts | ||
| 2009 | Three Sisters | Adaptation | |
| 2015 | The Stretch | ||
| 2016 | Mary Page Marlowe | ||
| 2017 | Linda Vista | ||
| 2017 | The Minutes | ||
| 2021 | Night Safari | ||
| 2021 | The Old Country | ||
| 2006 | Bug | Adaptation of his play |
| 2007 | Cop Show | Short film |
| 2011 | Killer Joe | Adaptation of his play |
| 2013 | Adaptation of his play | |
| 2021 | The Woman in the Window | |
| 1988 | The Glass Menagerie | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre | |
| 1991–1995 | Bang Bang Spontaneous Theatre | Various characters | Chicago, No Exit Cafe |
| 1994 | Picasso at the Lapin Agile | Freddy | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 1999 | Three Days of Rain | Walker | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2001 | Glengarry Glen Ross | John Williamson | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2002 | The Dazzle | Langley Collyer | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2002 | Miracle on 34th Street | Lawyer | Chicago Center for Performing Arts |
| 2003 | Homebody/Kabul | Quango Twistleton | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2004 | The Dresser | Norman | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2005 | Last of the Boys | Ben | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2005 | Orson's Shadow | Kenneth Tynan | Off-Broadway, Barrow Street Theatre |
| 2005 | The Pain and the Itch | Cash | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2006 | The Pillowman | Tupolski | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2006 | The Well-Appointed Room | Stewart | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2007 | Betrayal | Robert | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2009 | American Buffalo | Walter "Teach" Cole | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2010 | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? | George | Chicago, Steppenwolf Theatre |
| 2012 | Broadway, Booth Theatre | ||
| 2014 | The Realistic Joneses | Bob Jones | Broadway, Lyceum Theatre |
| 2019 | All My Sons | Joe Keller | Broadway, American Airlines Theatre |
| 2020 | The Minutes | Mayor Superba | Broadway, Cort Theatre |
| 2022 | Broadway, Studio 54 |
| 1988 | Paramedics | Van Owner | |
| 1992 | Straight Talk | Sean | |
| 1998 | Chicago Cab | Sports Fan | |
| U.S. Marshals | Sheriff Poe | ||
| 1999 | Guinevere | Zack | |
| 2007 | Cop Show | Michael Cooke | Short film |
| 2015 | The Big Short | Lawrence Fields | |
| 2016 | Wiener-Dog | Danny | |
| Christine | Michael Nelson | ||
| Elvis & Nixon | John Finlator | ||
| Indignation | Hawes D. Caudwell | ||
| Imperium | Dallas Wolf | ||
| 2017 | The Lovers | Michael | |
| Lady Bird | Larry McPherson | ||
| The Post | Fritz Beebe | ||
| 2019 | Ford v Ferrari | Henry Ford II | |
| Little Women | Mr. Dashwood | ||
| 2020 | French Exit | Franklin "Small Frank" Price (voice) | |
| 2021 | The Woman in the Window | Dr. Landy | Uncredited |
| Jack | Uncredited | ||
| 2022 | Deep Water | Don Wilson | |
| 2023 | Eric Larue | Bill Verne | |
| 2024 | McVeigh | Richard Snell | |
| Saturday Night | Herb Sargent | ||
| 2025 | A House of Dynamite | General Anthony Brady | |
| 2026 | Rosebush Pruning | Post-production | |
| Harmonia | Reuben | Post-production | |
| I Play Rocky | Sandy Maddox | Post-production |
| 1995 | Home Improvement | Henry | Episode: "Jill's Surprise Party" |
| 1996–1997 | Early Edition | Jonathan / Marksman | 2 episodes |
| 1997 | Seinfeld | Counterguy | Episode: "The Strike" |
| 1998 | The Drew Carey Show | Lomax | Episode: "Drew and the Conspiracy" |
| 1999 | Judging Amy | Mr. Kleinman | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2000 | Profiler | Mr. Adams | Episode: "Train Man" |
| 2001 | Strong Medicine | Ken | Episode: "Wednesday Night Fever" |
| 2001 | The District | Brad Gilroy | Episode: "Melt Down" |
| 2006 | Prison Break | Peter Tucci | 2 episodes |
| 2013–2014 | Homeland | Senator/Director Andrew Lockhart | 17 episodes |
| 2016–2019 | Divorce | Nick | 17 episodes |
| 2017 | Comrade Detective | Vasile (voice) | Episode: "No Exit" |
| 2018 | The Sinner | Jack Novack | 7 episodes |
| 2022–2023 | Jack McKinney | 9 episodes | |
| 2024 | Mr. Throwback | Mitch Grossman | 5 episodes |
| 2024 | The Simpsons | Himself (voice) | Episode: "Desperately Seeking Lisa" |
| 2025 | The Paper | John Stack | 2 episodes |
| 2025 | The Lowdown | Frank Martin | 6 episodes |
| 2025 | The American Revolution | Elbridge Gerry (voice) | Episode: "The Soul of All America (December 1777 - May 1780)" |
| TBA | East of Eden | Cyrus Trask | Upcoming series |
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