Robert Sean Leonard

Robert Lawrence Leonard (born February 28, 1969), known professionally 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 (1989) and Dr. James Wilson in the medical drama series House (2004–2012).

Robert Sean Leonard
Leonard in May 2007
Born	Robert Lawrence Leonard (1969-02-28) February 28, 1969 (age 56) Westwood, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1986–present
Spouse	Gabriella Salick ​ (m. 2008)​
Children	2

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, 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.^[1] He grew up in nearby Ridgewood, where he attended Ridgewood High School^[2] but later dropped out at 17 to pursue acting.^[3] He studied at Fordham University and later the Columbia University School of General Studies. He studied theater at HB Studio.^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[6]

Leonard and Ethan Hawke, who have been friends since childhood, co-founded New York's Malaparte theater company alongside James Waterston, Steve Zahn, and Frank Whaley in 1991.^[7][8] The company was officially dissolved in 2000, partly because its members wanted to devote more time to their families.^[9] Hawke later referred to the company's heyday as "pretty much the most thrilling period of [his] life".^[10]

Leonard's early film roles included The Manhattan Project (1986), My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1987), and Dead Poets Society (1989). In 1993, he had a leading role in the film Swing Kids, playing Peter Müller,^[11] appeared in the Shakespeare film adaptation Much Ado About Nothing, and appeared in Martin Scorsese's 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."^[12].

From 2004 to 2012, Leonard had his most famous onscreen role as 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".^[13] He later admitted, "The less I work, the happier I am."^[13] 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.^[13] In 2007, he appeared on Entertainment Weekly's 100 list as "Dr. Underrated".^[14]

From 2013 to 2014, Leonard had a recurring role as Dr. Roger Kadar on the series Falling Skies.^[15] In 2016, he played King Arthur in David Lee's adaptation of the musical Camelot at the Westport Country Playhouse.^[16] From February to April 2017, he appeared in the Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George as Jules/Bob.^[17] In 2023, he had a supporting role in HBO's The Gilded Age as the Reverend Luke Forte.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Leonard remains close friends with his House co-star Hugh Laurie.^[18] He has also been friends since childhood with Ethan Hawke, who would later become his co-star in Dead Poets Society and Tape.^[19]

Leonard married Gabriella Salick in 2008.^[20] The couple has two daughters, one born in 2009^[20] and one in 2012.^[21]

Acting credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	The Manhattan Project	Max	Credited as Robert Leonard
1987	My Best Friend Is a Vampire	Jeremy Capello
1989	Dead Poets Society	Neil Perry
1990	Mr. & Mrs. Bridge	Douglas Bridge
1991	Married to It	Chuck Bishop
1993	Swing Kids	Peter Müller
	Much Ado About Nothing	Count Claudio
	The Age of Innocence	Ted Archer
	A Dog Race in Alaska		Short film
1994	Safe Passage	Alfred Singer
1996	Killer: A Journal of Murder	Henry Lesser
	I Love You, I Love You Not	Angel of Death
1997	In the Gloaming	Danny
1998	Standoff	Jamie Doolin
	The Last Days of Disco	Tom Platt
	Ground Control	Cruise
2001	Tape	Jon Salter
	Driven	Demille Bly
	Chelsea Walls	Terry Olsen
2003	The I Inside	Peter Cable

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	My Two Loves	Larry Taylor	Television film
1987	Bluffing It	Rusty Duggan	Television film
1993	The Tonight Show with Jay Leno	Himself	Season 2 Episode 31, aired July 19, 1993
1994	Normandy: The Great Crusade	Rusty Sales	Voice, television film
1996	The Boys Next Door	Barry Klemper	Television film
1999	Wasteland	Jesse's ex	Episode: "My Ex-Friend's Wedding"
2000	The Outer Limits	Robby Archer	Episode: "Nest"
2001	A Glimpse of Hell	Lt. Daniel P. Meyer	Television film
2002	Corsairs		Unaired pilot[22]
2003	A Painted House	Jesse Chandler	Television film
2004–2012	House	Dr. James Wilson	Main cast
2006, 2010	American Experience	Himself, Herman Melville	Episode: "Eugene O'Neill"; Voice, episode: "Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World"
2013	The Blacklist	Frederick Barnes	Episode: "Frederick Barnes"
2013–2014	Falling Skies	Dr. Roger Kadar	Recurring; 9 episodes
2014	The Good Wife	Del Paul	Episode: "Dear God"
2015	Battle Creek	Brock	Episode: "Sympathy for the Devil"
2015–2016	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	ADA Kenneth O'Dwyer	3 episodes
2017	Blue Bloods	Charles Beard	Episode: "Lost Souls"
2019	The Hot Zone	Walter Humboldt	Miniseries
	The Good Doctor	Shamus O'Malley	Episode: "Claire"[23]
2022	The First Lady	Harry S. Truman	Episode: "Victory Dance"
2023	The Gilded Age	Reverend Luke Forte[24]	Recurring; season 2[25]

Stage

Year	Title	Role
1986	Brighton Beach Memoirs	Eugene Jerome
1987–1988	Breaking the Code	Christopher Morcom
1990	Romeo and Juliet	Romeo
1991	The Speed of Darkness	Eddie
1993	Candida	Eugene Marchbanks
1993	King Lear	Edgar[26]
1994	Philadelphia, Here I Come!	Gareth O'Donnell in Private
1995	Arcadia	Valentine Coverly
1997	The Glass Menagerie	Tom Wingfield[27]
1998	You Never Can Tell	Dr. Valentine[28]
1999	The Iceman Cometh	Don Parritt
2000–2001	The Music Man	Harold Hill
2001	The Invention of Love	A. E. Housman
2003	Long Day's Journey into Night	Edmund Tyrone
	The Violet Hour	John Pace Seavering
2011–2012	Born Yesterday	Paul Verrall
2013	To Kill a Mockingbird	Atticus Finch
	Pygmalion	Professor Henry Higgins
2016	Prodigal Son	Alan Hoffman
	Camelot	King Arthur
2017	Sunday in the Park with George	Jules/Bob
	Richard II	Richard II[29]
2018	Edward Albee's At Home at the Zoo	Peter
2025	Betrayal	Jerry

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1990	Chicago Film Critics Association	Most Promising Actor	Dead Poets Society	Won
1993	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play	Candida	Nominated
1997	Online Film & Television Association	Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries	In the Gloaming	Nominated
2001	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play	The Invention of Love	Won
2003	Tony Award	Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play	Long Day's Journey into Night	Nominated
2009	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	House	Nominated
2011	People's Choice Award	Favorite TV Doctor	House	Nominated
2023	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	The Gilded Age	Nominated