Robert Sean Leonard
Robert Lawrence Leonard, known as Robert Sean Leonard, is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Neil Perry in the drama film Dead Poets Society and Dr. James Wilson in the medical drama series House.
A prolific stage actor, Leonard won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in The Invention of Love in 2001. His other theater credits include Candida, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Breaking the Code, The [Speed of Darkness (play)|The Speed of Darkness], Philadelphia, Here I Come!, Arcadia, The Music Man, Born Yesterday, Fifth of July, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
Early life
Robert Lawrence Leonard was born in Westwood, New Jersey, on February 28, 1969. He grew up in nearby Ridgewood, where he attended Ridgewood High School but later dropped out at 17 to pursue acting. He studied at Fordham University and later the Columbia University School of General Studies. He studied theater at HB Studio. He has a brother named Sean, whose name he adopted as his new middle name when the Screen Actors Guild advised him to take a stage name because his birth name was already taken by another actor.Career
Leonard is a three-time Tony Award nominee, and won Best Featured Actor in a Play in 2001 for his role as A. E. Housman in Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love. He had previously played the role of Valentine in the New York premiere of Stoppard's Arcadia at Lincoln Center in 1995. He was nominated for a Tony in 2003 for his portrayal of Edmund Tyrone in a well-received revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, co-starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brian Dennehy, and Vanessa Redgrave. He has also appeared in Broadway musical productions, and replaced Craig Bierko as the lead performer in a revival of The Music Man in 2001. He co-starred as Paul Verrall in the 2011 Broadway revival of Born Yesterday.Leonard and Ethan Hawke, who have been friends since co-starring in Dead Poets Society, co-founded New York's Malaparte theater company alongside James Waterston, Steve Zahn, and Frank Whaley in 1991. The company was officially dissolved in 2000, partly because its members wanted to devote more time to their families. Hawke later referred to the company's heyday as "pretty much the most thrilling period of life".
Leonard's early film roles included The Manhattan Project, My Best Friend Is a Vampire, and Dead Poets Society. In 1993, he had a leading role in the film Swing Kids, playing Peter Müller, appeared in the Shakespeare film adaptation Much Ado About Nothing, and appeared in Martin Scorsese's The [Age of Innocence (1993 film)|The Age of Innocence]. In 1997, he received rave reviews for his role in the television film In the Gloaming, directed by Christopher Reeve. Entertainment Weekly said that Leonard "does a first-rate job of juggling Danny's mixture of despair, neediness, and mordant jokiness."
From 2004 to 2012, Leonard portrayed Dr. James Wilson in the Fox medical drama series House. He had been invited to audition for the role of Charlie Eppes in the CBS crime drama series Numb3rs as well as House, and thought the Numb3rs script was "kind of cool", but decided to audition for House because he thought the character of Charlie was in "too many scenes". He later admitted, "The less I work, the happier I am." He believed that his House audition was not particularly good, but that his friendship with the show's executive producer Bryan Singer helped win him the role. In 2007, he appeared on Entertainment Weeklys 100 list as "Dr. Underrated".
From 2013 to 2014, Leonard had a recurring role as Dr. Roger Kadar on the series Falling Skies. In 2016, he played King Arthur in David Lee's adaptation of the musical Camelot at the Westport Country Playhouse. From February to April 2017, he appeared in the Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George as Jules/Bob. In 2023, he had a supporting role in HBO's The [Gilded Age (TV series)|The Gilded Age] as the Reverend Luke Forte.
Personal life
Leonard remains close friends with his House co-star Hugh Laurie. Another close friend of his is Ethan Hawke, who he co-starred with in Dead Poets Society and Tape, in addition to appearing in Hawke's directoral debut Chelsea Walls.Leonard married Gabriella Salick in 2008. The couple have three daughters, one born in 2009 and one in 2012.