Hamish Linklater Bio
Hamish Linklater (born July 7, 1976) is an American actor and playwright known for work across stage, television and film. He is recognized for television roles in The New Adventures of Old Christine and Legion and for a critically acclaimed lead in the Netflix miniseries Midnight Mass.
Early Life and Background
Hamish Linklater was born in New York City and raised by his mother, Kristin Linklater, a Scottish-born professor of theatre and teacher of vocal technique. His father, James Lincoln Cormeny, worked as an actor and stage builder; Linklater spent part of his childhood in the Berkshires where his mother helped found the Shakespeare & Company troupe.
Linklater began performing small Shakespearean roles at about eight years old, reflecting early immersion in theatre training and classical work. His maternal grandparents included Marjorie Linklater, an arts campaigner, and Eric Linklater, a Scottish novelist; he also counts journalist Magnus Linklater and writer Andro Linklater among his extended family.
Path to Celebrity
Linklater graduated from Commonwealth School in Boston in 1994 and attended Amherst College, pursuing an education that ran alongside early professional theatre opportunities. He established a reputation in regional and off-Broadway theatre before expanding into television and film, carrying stage discipline into screen roles.
His early exposure to Shakespeare and ensemble work shaped a dual path between stage and screen that continued throughout his career, allowing him to move between classical theatre, contemporary plays and recurring television parts. This theater-first foundation remained a throughline as he built visibility in television comedies and prestige dramas.
Hamish Linklater Career
Early Career (1996–2006)
Linklater’s career formally traces to the mid-1990s, with steady stage work leading to on-screen opportunities. He made his big-screen debut in the film Groove in 2000 and followed with a supporting role as CNN correspondent Richard Roth in the HBO film Live from Baghdad, establishing an early pattern of varied film and television appearances.
Across the early 2000s he appeared in several films including a supporting role in Fantastic Four (2005) and held recurring television roles on series such as American Dreams and Gideon’s Crossing. He also maintained an active theatre presence, appearing off-Broadway and in regional productions during this period.
Breakthrough (2006–2021)
Linklater’s first wide recognition on network television came when he joined the main cast of the CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine in 2006, playing Matthew Kimble, the brother of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s title character. He remained with the series through its 2010 run, and the role raised his profile in television comedy while preserving his ties to theatre work.
During the late 2000s and early 2010s Linklater continued to alternate stage and screen: he appeared in off-Broadway and Shakespeare in the Park productions, taking roles such as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, and made his Broadway debut in 2011 in Theresa Rebeck’s Seminar opposite Alan Rickman and Lily Rabe. These stage credits reinforced his reputation as a classically trained actor comfortable in both new plays and canonical texts.
In 2013 Linklater joined Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom in a recurring role and then earned a regular part as Andrew Keanelly on the CBS series The Crazy Ones, working alongside established television leads. He later expanded into darker and more stylistically distinct television: in 2017 he was cast as Clark Debussy on the FX series Legion, moving from recurring status to series regular in the show’s second season and demonstrating range in genre work.
Linklater’s portrayal of Father Paul Hill and the aged Monsignor John Pruitt in Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass (2021) marked a significant critical moment, earning widespread acclaim and a Critics’ Choice nomination for his dual performance. Around the same period he worked on projects including the Amazon Prime series Tell Me Your Secrets and the Starz limited series Gaslit, and he began expanding into writing, producing and directing on film projects he developed.
Notable Works and Milestones
Signature credits include his television comedy lead in The New Adventures of Old Christine, the critically noted dramatic turn in Legion, and his lauded dual role in Midnight Mass. He has remained active on stage, with high-profile theatre credits and a Broadway debut, and in the 2020s he expanded into voice work, voicing the title character in the Prime Video animated series Batman: Caped Crusader beginning in 2024.
Hamish Linklater Award Nominations
Across his career Linklater has received recognition for screen work, most notably a Critics’ Choice nomination for his performance in Midnight Mass. His nominations reflect a career that spans television comedy, genre drama and prestige limited-series performance.
Hamish Linklater Family
Linklater is the son of Kristin Linklater, a prominent teacher of voice and theatre, and James Lincoln Cormeny, an actor and stage builder. His maternal family includes noted literary and journalistic figures, and Linklater has cited his early family environment and the Shakespeare & Company troupe as formative influences on his craft.
Personal Life
Linklater married playwright Jessica Goldberg in January 2002; the couple divorced in 2012 and have one daughter together. Shortly after that divorce he went public with a relationship with actress Lily Rabe; the couple have two daughters born in 2017 and 2020 and a son born in 2022.
Alongside acting, Linklater has worked as a playwright, screenwriter, producer and director on projects he has developed, balancing family life with a career that continues to move between stage, television, film and animation voice work.