People

Tim Blake Nelson

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor and playwright. Described as a "modern character actor, his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Gideon in Minority Report (2002), Doctor Steve Pendanski in Holes (2003), Doctor Jonathan Jacobo in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), Danny Dalton Jr. in Syriana (2005), Samuel Sterns in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Richard Schell in Lincoln (2012), the titular character of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), and Henry McCarty in Old Henry (2021). He portrayed Wade Tillman / Looking Glass in the HBO limited series Watchmen (2019), for which he received a Critics' Choice Television Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2020. Nelson's directorial credits include Eye of God (1997), which was nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize and an Independent Spirit Award; O (2001), a modern-day adaptation of Othello; and the Holocaust drama The Grey Zone (2001). Eye of God and The Grey Zone were both adapted from Nelson's own plays. Nelson has also co-directed music videos for Billy Woods and Kenny Segal, including "Babylon by Bus" and "Soft Landing." He also co-directed the music video for Armand Hammer feat. Pink Siifu's "Trauma Mic." Nelson recently published his debut novel, City of Blows (2023), an epic group portrait of four men grappling for control of a script in a radically changing Hollywood. Description above from the Wikipedia article Tim Blake Nelson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Captain America: Brave New World

As Samuel Sterns

Detachment

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Grey Zone

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Incredible Hulk

As Samuel Sterns

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

As Buster Scruggs (segment "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs")

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

The Epic Journey: An Odyssey Narrative Chain

Homer's Odyssey is the foundational blueprint for the homebound journey, tracking a weary warrior's attempt to return to his family. This six-film narrative cha...

6 films

Imperfect Pedagogues: Teachers in the Grey

From the cracked idealism of Half Nelson to the bureaucratic despair of The Teacher, a chain of films where educators are as flawed as the systems they serve.

7 films

When the Camera Refuses to Blink

A chain of films about people who have crossed a line, and the directors who hold the lens steady. No absolution, no easy exits, only the long look at what we a...

7 films

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