David Thornton (actor)

David Farrington Thornton (born June 12, 1953) is an American actor. He has appeared in John Q, Home Alone 3 as Earl Unger, Law & Order, The Notebook, and The Other Woman, among other roles. He is the husband of singer songwriter Cyndi Lauper.^[2]

David Thornton
Born	David Farrington Thornton[1] (1953-06-12) June 12, 1953 (age 71) Cheraw, South Carolina, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1983–present
Spouse	Cyndi Lauper ​ (m. 1991)​
Children	1

Personal life

Thornton was born in Cheraw, South Carolina. He is the son of professor Robert Donald Thornton (1917–2006),^[3][4] who taught English at Harvard University among other institutions, and Grace Ellen (née Baker; 1919–2019).^{[5][6][1][7][8]} He graduated from Hamilton College and Yale Drama School and studied at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio.^[2]

Thornton met singer Cyndi Lauper on the set of the film Off and Running.^[2] They married in November 1991 and have a son, Declyn Wallace Thornton (born November 19, 1997).^[9]

In 2005, the New York Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Thornton in Thornton v. Baron, which is considered a landmark decision in the New York real estate industry, specifically dealing with rent stabilization in New York.^[10]

Filmography

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Java Burn	Lomax
1990	Men of Respect	Philly Como (Fleance}
1991	Off and Running	Reese
1994	Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle	George S. Kaufman
1995	Jeffrey	Man #3
1995	Search and Destroy	Rob
1996	Unhook the Stars	Frankie Warren
1996	Breathing Room	Brian
1996	If Lucy Fell	Ted
1997	Home Alone 3	Earl Unger
1997	The Real Blonde	Alex
1997	Office Killer	Gary Michaels
1997	She's So Lovely	Saul Sunday
1998	A Civil Action	Richard Aufiero
1998	The Last Days of Disco	Berrie Rafferty
1998	Illuminata	Orlandini
1998	Hush	Gavin
1998	High Art	Harry
1998	Too Tired to Die	Lulu
2000	Blessed Art Thou	Elmo
2000	Blue Moon	Frank's Father
2000	Dead Dog	Stevenson Nagel
2001	The Girl Under the Waves	David
2002	Swept Away	Michael
2002	Garmento	Ronnie Grossman
2002	John Q	Jimmy Palumbo
2002	XX/XY	Miles
2002	For Earth Below	Ron	Short film
2002	Private Property	Sam
2002	100 Mile Rule	Jerry
2003	Prologue	—
2004	The Notebook	John Hamilton
2004	Noise	Elliot
2004	The Warrior Class	Sancerre
2005	Life on the Ledge	Mr. Eddy
2005	Romance & Cigarettes	Urologist
2006	Alpha Dog	Butch Mazursky
2009	Here and There	Robert
2009	My Sister's Keeper	Dr. Chance
2010	Zenith	Berger
2011	Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life	Simon Rudolph
2011	Dirty Movie	Little Johnny's Dad
2011	Fake	Tay Murphy
2011	Trophy Kids	Charlie
2014	The Other Woman	Nick
2023	God Is a Bullet	Arthur Naci
TBA	Transfer at Aachen †	Ludwig Vnuk	Pre-production[citation needed]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Sessions	Marc	Television film
1985	Miami Vice	Lile	Episode: "Rites of Passage"
1986	Tales from the Darkside	Werewolf	Episode: "The Circus"
1988	Crime Story	Thalberg	Episode: "Femme Fatale"
1989	American Playhouse	Nelson's Pal	Episode: "Ask Me Again"
1993	Blind Spot	Frank
1994	The Cosby Mysteries	—	Episode: "The Lottery Winner Murders"
1995	New York News	—	Episode: "New York News"
	New York Undercover	Alan Warwick	Episode: "The Shooter"
1996-2005	Law & Order	Defense Attorney Lionel Granger / Jeremy Cook / Paul Radford / Paul Medici	4 episodes
2000	The $treet	Carl Kettner	Episode: "Closet Cases"
	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Kenny Strick	Episode: "Maledictus"
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Lionel Granger	10 episodes
2013	Cyndi Lauper: Still So Unusual	Himself	12 episodes
2016	Elementary	Joe Ballantine	Episode: "A Study in Charlotte"
2017	Homeland	George Pallis	3 episodes
2020	Tommy	Robert 'Bob' Flake	Episode: "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities"
2021	A Time to Kill	James Lapan	Episode: "Killer on the Roof"

Video games

Year	Title	Voice Role	Notes
1995	Ripper	Twig

References

1. "Robert Donald Thornton". cheraw.uber.matchbin.net. Archived from the original on 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
2. Neustatter, Angela (5 July 1992). "How We Met: 41. David Thornton and Cyndi Lauper". The Independent. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
3. "Robert Donald Thornton Obituary (2006) Charlotte Observer". Legacy.com.
4. "Robert D. Thornton". WorldCat Entities. 24 October 2006. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
5. "Grace Thornton Obituary 2019". www.kiserfuneralhome.com.
6. Who Was Who In America 2006-2007, vol. XVIII, Kerry Nugent Morrison, Marquis Who's Who, 2007, p. 241
7. Jane Wollman Rusoff (2008-06-15). "Cyndi Lauper is still unusual, but within reason". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-08-30. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
8. "Robert Thornton An appreciation". HeraldScotland. 7 December 2006.
9. Sullivan, Caroline (12 October 2008). "'I've always been the outsider'". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
10. Thornton v. Baron, 833 N.E. 2d 261 (N.Y. June 30, 2005).

External links

• David Thornton at IMDb