Glenn Howerton
Glenn Franklin Howerton III is an American actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for playing Dennis Reynolds on the FX/FXX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which he co-developed and on which he serves as an executive producer and writer alongside the other main cast members.
Howerton's other notable performances include Cliff Gilbert on The Mindy Project, Don Chumph on the first season of Fargo, Jack Griffin on A.P. Bio, and Jim Balsillie in the film BlackBerry. He also co-hosted The Always Sunny Podcast with his fellow Always Sunny co-stars and co-creators Rob Mac and Charlie Day.
Early life
Howerton was born in Okinawa Prefecture on April 13, 1976, the son of American parents Janice and Glenn Franklin Howerton Jr. He has an older sister named Courtney. His father's job as a fighter pilot was the reason he was born in Japan, and it required the family to constantly move. Almost immediately after his birth, the family returned to the U.S. to live in Arizona and then New Mexico. When he was three years old, they relocated to England, where they lived in Felixstowe. Four years later, they again returned to the U.S. to live in Virginia. They then had a stint in South Korea, where they were based in Seoul. When he was 10 years old, they returned to the U.S. for a third time and settled in Montgomery, Alabama.After graduating from Jefferson Davis High School in Montgomery, Howerton moved to Miami, where he spent two years at the New World School of the Arts of Miami Dade College. In 1996, he entered Juilliard School's Drama Division in New York City, where he graduated with a BFA as part of Group 29.
Career
In 2002, Howerton starred as Corey Howard in That '80s Show. He went on to guest star on ER as Dr. Nick Cooper in 2003. He had small roles in the films Must Love Dogs, Serenity, Two Weeks, and The Strangers. He also appeared as a doctor in Crank, and reprised the role in its 2009 sequel, Crank: High Voltage.Howerton is best known for playing the narcissistic and sociopathic Dennis Reynolds on the FX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The series was co-created by Howerton alongside Rob Mac and Charlie Day, who all serve as producers, writers, and main cast members alongside Kaitlin Olson and Danny DeVito. As of season 14, he has also directed two episodes. In December 2021, Always Sunny became the longest-running live-action American comedy of all time with the release of its fifteenth season.
In 2008, Howerton co-created sci-fi comedy Boldly Going Nowhere with Day, Mac and writing assistant Adam Stein, but the pilot was permanently shelved. He has also had producing roles on various projects created by other Always Sunny colleagues like David Hornsby such as How to Be a Gentleman, Unsupervised and The Cool Kids. Howerton also did several voice roles including a recurring part on The Cleveland Show as Ernie Krinklesac.
He played the lead role in a film for the first time in 2013, when he landed the character of Will in the CollegeHumor comedy film Coffee Town with co-stars Steve Little and Ben Schwartz. Soon after, he landed recurring roles on the Fox comedy series The Mindy Project as Cliff Gilbert, the divorce lawyer introduced in season 2 as one of Mindy's love interests, on the critically acclaimed first season of the FX dark comedy series Fargo as Don Chumph, and on the Showtime comedy-drama series House of Lies starring Don Cheadle in its final season as the young mayoral candidate Seth Buckley. Howerton also played a small part as the gun-running Dominic in the Netflix Original film Officer Downe starring Kim Coates.
His next major television role came in 2018 on the NBC single-camera comedy created by Mike O'Brien, A.P. Bio, where he played Jack Griffin, an arrogant Harvard philosophy professor whose fall from grace had forced him to get a job teaching biology to high school students in his hometown of Toledo while plotting to exact revenge on his nemesis and restore his career. The show ran for two seasons on NBC before it was cancelled and then picked up by Peacock, NBC's streaming service, where it ran for another two seasons. In December 2021, it was cancelled for good. In October 2022, it was announced that he would be voicing Fred Jones on the upcoming HBO Max animated series Velma.
Starting in November 2021, Day, Mac and Howerton launched The Always Sunny Podcast, a weekly show loosely based on the rewatch format of podcasting, which had grown in popularity in recent years, to coincide with the release of the record-breaking season 15 of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In June 2022, they released Four Walls ''Whiskey with all proceeds from the 15-year single-malt Irish whiskey going towards supporting the Pennsylvania hospitality industry which was badly hit by the pandemic.
In August 2022, it was announced that Howerton would be co-starring with Jay Baruchel in a Canadian biopic directed by Matt Johnson on the rise and fall of BlackBerry as one of its co-founders. The film BlackBerry premiered in competition at Berlinale 2023 on February 17 to positive reviews from critics, with Howerton's performance as Jim Balsillie being especially well received.
In 2025, he played Ethan Corbin III on the Netflix dark comedy limited series Sirens''.
Personal life
Howerton dated actress Morena Baccarin when they were at Juilliard together.Howerton married actress Jill Latiano on September 5, 2009, following an engagement that lasted for over a year. They have two sons together, the first born in 2011 and the second born in 2014.
Howerton was diagnosed with ADHD in 2023. He has said that he follows a vegan diet "about 95% of the time".