Ron Livingston


Ronald Joseph Livingston is an American actor. He is best known for playing Peter Gibbons in Office Space and Captain Lewis Nixon III in the miniseries Band of Brothers. Livingston's other roles include the films Swingers, Adaptation, The Conjuring, James White, Tully ; and the television series Loudermilk, and Boardwalk Empire.

Early life and education

Livingston was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Kurt Livingston, an aerospace electronics engineer, and Linda, a Lutheran pastor. He has two brothers and one sister. His younger brother, John, is also an actor. Both his sister, Jennifer Livingston, and brother-in-law, Mike Thompson, were TV news personalities at WKBT-DT in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Livingston attended Yale University, where he sang with The Whiffenpoofs and graduated in 1989, in the same class as Anderson Cooper. He graduated with a B.A. degree in Theatre Studies and English Literature.
Livingston first acted at Theatre Cedar Rapids after being introduced to the group during a school job shadowing. Livingston moved to Chicago and became involved in the local theatre scene.

Career

In 1992, Livingston landed his first film role, in Dolly Parton's Straight Talk. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he was cast in supporting roles in Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade and The Low Life. In 1996, Livingston was cast in Swingers, his first major role.
In 1999, he starred as the male lead, Peter Gibbons, in the comedy cult classic Office Space, which co-starred Jennifer Aniston and was written and directed by Mike Judge.
In 2001, he appeared in HBO's miniseries Band of Brothers as Captain Lewis Nixon III opposite Donnie Wahlberg and Damian Lewis. Livingston widened his variety of roles when he played a Hollywood agent in Adaptation, a weaselly Ivy League upstart opposite Alec Baldwin's casino boss in The Cooler and teachers in Winter Solstice and Pretty Persuasion. He also appeared as sardonic writer Jack Berger, Carrie's short-term boyfriend in the fifth and sixth seasons of Sex and the City. He guest starred in the episode "TB or Not TB" of House. In 2006, he starred as FBI negotiator Matt Flannery in the Fox series Standoff, co-starring Rosemarie DeWitt, and he was an advertising spokesman for Sprint Nextel.
In summer 2007, Livingston appeared on the off-Broadway stage in the world premiere of Neil LaBute's In a Dark Dark House, produced by MCC Theater, with Frederick Weller and Louisa Krause. The show ran May–July at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City. In November 2007, the indie film Holly told the story of a Vietnamese girl trafficked into the sex trade in Cambodia. Livingston starred as Patrick, a shady card shark who becomes determined to save Holly from her ill-destined fate.
In 2009, Livingston portrayed flight engineer Maddux Donner in the series Defying Gravity, which was cancelled after its first season, and starred in the science fiction romantic drama The Time Traveler's Wife. In 2010, he co-starred in the Jay Roach comedy Dinner for Schmucks.
On February 26, 2013, Entertainment Weekly confirmed that Livingston would be joining the cast of HBO's Boardwalk Empire for the fourth season. Also in 2013, he starred in the hit horror film The Conjuring alongside Lili Taylor, and co-starred in the indie comedy Drinking Buddies alongside Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson and Anna Kendrick. Drinking Buddies received positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 82% based on 97 reviews.
In 2015, Livingston appeared in the indie drama James White, as well as the comedy films Vacation and Addicted to Fresno. From 2017 to 2020, Livingston starred in the Peter Farrelly–produced comedy television series Loudermilk on the Audience network. Livingston played the title role of Sam Loudermilk, a former music critic and recovering alcoholic who works as a substance abuse counsellor and support group leader, and who regularly doles out clever but acid-tongued critiques to his clients, his friends, and random people he encounters. The show premiered in October 2017 and was renewed in April 2018 for a second season that premiered in October 2018. In December 2018, Audience renewed the series for a third season. After Audience ceased operations, the third season premiered on Amazon Prime Video in 2020–21.
In 2018, Livingston starred in the comedy drama film Tully, and from 2018 to 2023, he appeared in the ABC drama A Million Little Things as Jon Dixon, whose suicide causes his group of friends to evaluate their own lives. In 2023, he portrayed Henry Allen in the superhero film The Flash.

Personal life

Livingston and his Standoff co-star Rosemarie DeWitt began a relationship after meeting on the show. After dating for three years, they married on November 2, 2009, in San Francisco. He was previously engaged to actress Lisa Sheridan.
In May 2013, Livingston and DeWitt announced they had adopted an infant girl born the previous month. In December 2016, the couple announced they had adopted another child, a girl, who was born the previous year.

Filmography

Film

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Television