Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as Lawn Dogs (1997), The Green Mile (1999), Galaxy Quest (1999), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), Matchstick Men (2003), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), Moon (2009), Frost/Nixon (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Conviction (2010), Cowboys & Aliens (2011), Seven Psychopaths (2012), The Way, Way Back (2013), Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), Vice (2018), Jojo Rabbit (2019), Richard Jewell (2019), and The Best of Enemies (2019). Rockwell won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). and was nominated the following year for portraying George W. Bush in Adam McKay's Vice (2018). In 2019, he portrayed Bob Fosse in the FX biographical miniseries Fosse/Verdon, earning him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. In 2022 he received his first Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in the Broadway revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo. His other stage performances include Zoo Story (2001), A Behanding in Spokane (2010) and Fool for Love (2015). Early life and education Rockwell was born November 5, 1968, in Daly City, California. He is the only child of actors Pete Rockwell and Penny Hess. After their divorce when he was five, he was raised by his father in San Francisco, and spent his summers with his mother in New York. At age 10, he made a brief stage appearance playing Humphrey Bogart in an East Village improv comedy sketch with his mother. He started high school at the San Francisco School of the Arts with Margaret Cho and Aisha Tyler, but received his high school diploma from Urban Pioneers, an Outward Bound-style alternative school. Rockwell explained, "I just wanted to get stoned, flirt with girls, go to parties." The school "had a reputation as a place stoners went because it was easy to graduate." The school helped him regain an interest in performing. After appearing in an independent film during his senior year, he moved to New York to pursue an acting career. He later enrolled in the Professional Actor Training Program at the William Esper Studio in New York. Career Early